Alice's Angel
by Rodwen Fefalas
Summary: Promises have been made, and dates have been set, but just how far do Alice and Bella have to go before they can defeat the threats surrounding them? Sequel to Go Softly.
1. Chapter 1

"But I thought you didn't want to get married?"

Alice smoothed her face over her hand, pinching the bridge of her nose and cursing her reflection in her car window. It was almost midnight, and a fine sheet of rain had been pouring since about ten or eleven—she honestly couldn't tell. For once, she'd stopped paying attention to what was going on outside. Instead, she allowed herself to become consumed by the agonies rolling through her mind.

Bella had been speechless and Alice could hardly blame her. The words had slipped out of Alice's mouth before she was able to contain them. The second her lips had parted and her tongue formed the godawful words, it was too late to slap her hand over her mouth, a presumably blushing bride, and pretend that wasn't what she'd meant to ask.

The second after she'd spoken, she could practically hear Bella's pulse race as her eyes dilated and then narrowed. She could picture ever hair on her human lover's head as she bowed her face to the ground. No—to the space around their clasped hands. Alice's had been so cold, so obviously lifeless compared to the soft, beautiful warmth of Bella's skin, which had been so obviously alive and healthy and well.

"O-oh, my god," Alice remembered whispering, taking her hands from her lover's to clasp her cheeks. Bella hadn't looked at her—she'd kept her eyes on the ground, though she'd gotten to her feet and backed away a step. "Oh, my god. Bella, I'm so—so sorry. I—I don't—"

Bella cut her off with a wave and a tight smile, though Alice could see—could _feel, _for heaven's sake—the hurt behind her eyes. She watched with growing horror as the human girl nodded and backed up another step. And, for all the ridiculousness of thinking such a thing in this situation, Alice couldn't help but be impressed that the young woman who'd approached their door only so many months ago had grown the balance and stability enough to walk backwards without tripping. She almost laughed.

Almost. But Bella's face chased any of these thoughts away.

"Sleep on it. It's not a snap decision. Let me know how you feel in the morning," she said, backing down another step and holding Alice's gaze. Now when she smiled, the expression seemed more genuine, as if part of her couldn't help but laugh a bit.

At least, that's what Alice hoped it meant. She'd hoped Bella could see the enormity of this question when she gifted Alice with one of her kind, young-hearted smiles. The very sight of it chased the fear and doubt and uncertainty and shadows from the recesses of the vampire's heart. But Bella was still walking away, back towards the truck, back towards her human world.

"Bella—angel—" Alice said, starting after her down the stairs, but Bella stopped her with another wave.

"I'm serious. Think about it. Let me know, okay? It's been a rough couple of days. I'm going to get some rest. You should, too," Bella said, a small laugh wiggling its way into her voice. The sound confused the vampire for a moment, but then she wondered just how she sounded to her human lover—the desperation.

_Am I desperate?_ Alice wondered to herself.

So Alice had gone for a drive, which was how she wound up sitting in her car in the middle of a vacant parking lot in the business district of Seattle, her elbow resting on the window and her head resting in her hand. Sleepless nights didn't help much for dreaming, and she isn't want to see into the future. In fact, she tried to avoid it around Bella as much as possible now, if she could help it. Part of her was afraid of what she'd find, and another part of her was saying _trust your love. That should be enough._

"That should be enough," she whispered to the silence of the passenger's seat.

_Isn't that what Bella said?_ A little voice in the back of her head taunted, its tone so matter-of-fact and snarky that she could almost see its cheshire cat smile.

Before she could stop herself, Alice smirked and ran her mind across the words of Bella's proposal the way she used to roll peppermint candies over her tongue, savoring the feel and the flavor. "That's exactly what Bella said," she whispered. "My beautiful angel."

Shaking her head at the incredulity of it all, she leaned her head back against the headrest and closed her eyes. Feigning sleep, she willed the night to float by so that the sun might come up and she could give Bella her decision. Something told her that, even if she went there right now and expressed the truest extent of her love for the entire town to see, Bella would place her soft palm gently across her vampire lover's mouth and whisper, "Wait until the day."

A smile grew across Alice's face as she imagined it. "Fine," she whispered to the image of her lover in her mind. "Then for now, I'll just amuse myself with the memory of the taste of your lips."

_Are you at Bella's?_ Edward's voice rang through Alice's mind with the resonance of a gong.

The clairvoyant nearly yelped with alarm, her eyes flying open as she jumped to full wakefulness and gripped the steering wheel. Her useless breaths hissed in and out between her teeth and she shook her head.

_Holy god, Edward don't _do _that._

She could almost hear his chuckle. _Sorry. You're not at Bella's then?_

_No. I'm in Seattle. I needed to think._

_About the future?_ He asked it so blatantly that she almost wondered where his tact had gone. He was hardly playing the young gentleman she'd known him to be before they'd moved to Forks.

_Before we met Bella and everything changed. And we loosened up,_ she told herself, trying not to let him hear.

_Yes, the future,_ she responded to his question.

_And what's your response? To her question, I mean._

The genuine concern in his tone almost set her off-balance for a second, but she knew it was only his brotherly nature. Even if Bella was his former girlfriend, he was still going to be cautious of anyone who tried breaking the hearts of his family.

_Have you seen the future at all?_ He went on when she didn't answer.

Alice shook her head. _I haven't wanted to See,_ she said. Just as the words manifested, she smiled again and thought about the sight of Bella on one knee, thought of the words as they poured out of her mouth and the split second when her whole heart had said YES before she'd had the…sight to question it.

Grinning, Alice started her car. _But that doesn't mean I don't know how it's going to end._


	2. Chapter 2

She made the drive to the Swan house as slowly as possible. It went against her every instinct—fast and furious, something that she liked just because she could, but also because she'd learned that running was something she was going to be doing a lot of if anyone ever figured out who she and her family were. Aside from being an infuriating move on her own part—Alice wasn't used to inhibiting herself when it came to the things she wanted—it gave her plenty of time to figure out how this might look when she finally spoke the words. Despite how closely to the horizon any possible Visions lingered, Alice pushed them away, gripping the wheel hard with her resolve.

_I don't want to see the future,_ she reminded herself as she drove, glaring at the road as if it'd offended her with such a suggestion and determining to stare it down in case it ever tried such a tactic again. _I want to watch it unfold as it will. I want to do what Bella said—to trust our love. It's like she said: that should be enough. And it will be._

So she shook the thought from her mind and distracted herself from any pulling Visions about the people she'd been set to watch by preparing herself for the moment of truth—the moment when she alighted from the car and declared her undying love to her very mortal lover. In her head, she imagined the sun shining, but not too much. She saw Bella's face fall open with joy and relief, chasing away the tiny hint of sadness that Alice had seen in her human lover's eyes when the Wrong Answer had popped out. The world would be warm again, and their embrace would be hot, despite the cold of Alice's skin. Hand in hand, she pictured them walking up to the house, walking through the front door as if they owned the place, and making the announcement in front of Charlie. Try as she might, she found she couldn't picture her future father-in-law's face. She couldn't guess what his reaction might be, nor could she cull up any words that might spill from his mouth at the sight and sound of his daughter's engagement.

For a reason that Alice couldn't explain, this bothered her. It was something she mulled over when she crossed the border into Forks, pulling and tugging at the sensation of unease as if the discomfort were a length of taffy. Pulling up to the Swan house, she tried to put her unease away, envisioning a giant key opening a door and stuffing it into her heart, only to lock the latch behind the shadow and poof the key out of existence so that she would never be tempted to use it again. Alice shut the door to her car and walked to the house, nodding to herself. Putting aside her worries should be that easy, she told herself.

Ringing the doorbell, she ignored the slimy little voice in the back of her head that told her it wasn't going to be so simple. This voice had been the same one in the car with her while she'd mulled over her answers in Seattle, the one that taunted her and swirled around her thoughts.

_Not this time,_ Alice promised herself, banishing the little voice to the back of her head along with her unease. The Swan door opened and Bella's face, still soft with sleep and newly lived dreams, brightened as the vampire waved from the opposite side of the glass. _This time, I'm in control. It won't be anything to worry about, whatever it is. This will be a happy day._

"What are you doing here? It's so early," Bella said, her voice growing louder as she opened the glass door to admit Alice into the foyer.

"I spent all night thinking," Alice said as she stepped into the house. The warm smells of heated wooden walls, a newly cleaned appliances, and freshly folded laundry wafted towards her from the stairs, living room, and kitchen, and she had to catch herself before she spent too long lingering over the scents of Bella's home. Now that she was here—now that she was _doing this_—she almost wanted to bury herself in the moment. Every last detail, from the threadbare carpet in the living room to the slightly sick glow of the too-yellow kitchen walls, purred under her attention and she almost demanded that her memory capture every inch, as if she could turn her brain into a compacted photo album to carry with her whenever she felt things falling apart.

Until she saw the slight alarm on Bella's face as her lover pushed one hand through her unkempt hair. "You were up all night about this?" she asked, her words breathy. It took Alice a second, but she realized the tone her lover had taken was full of fear, barely disguised by incredulity.

Alice covered her mouth with her hand, shaking her head. "No, no! It's not like that. It's not bad. I wanted to tell you—I couldn't believe what I'd said. I couldn't believe I'd hesitated like that and I was turning it around all night in my head, trying to figure out why. But surprise was all I could come up with because I don't have any reason to hesitate," she said, capturing Bella's free hand in her own and pressing a kiss to its back. When she looked up again, Bella's face had gone wide, her eyes shining as if she thought she might still be in a dream.

With a small giggle, Alice straightened up. "My answer is yes. Always," she said, her voice quiet.

The words seemed to hover in the air above them, floating on sugar-spun clouds and angel wings and light. In the span of two breaths, she watched Bella as the human girl let this all sink in—the proposal, the answer, and the future of what it now meant—before Alice giggled again, glad to have once again stunned her angel into silence.

"Say something?" she suggested, teasing her lover from her head to her toes.

Bella started to laugh, a sound that tumbled from the back of her throat, and opened her arms wide. "There's nothing left," she said. Wrapping her arms around Alice's neck, she pulled the vampire close and pressed their mouths together.

The part of Alice that had been controlled by inhibitions let go of its reins. She laced her arms around her human's waist, pressing their bodies together and sighing into the kiss. It felt final, two puzzle pieces coming together to connect the whole, a picture that had been decent before becoming now perfect and lasting.

She ran her hand through Bella's hair, savoring the soft curl of her human lover's waves and relishing the way the back of Bella's head fit into the palm of her hand. The human responded in kind, her arms tightening around Alice's neck, bringing her face closer, down farther, until the human leaned back an inch, then two, getting lost in the kiss. When Alice pulled away for a breath, she heard her human girl whimper and bit back the smile that was threatening to spread across her face. Opening her eyes, she could see the two blushing pilgrims, rounded and supple and tantalizing as they tried to come closer, to eliminate the distance between Bella's mouth and Alice's.

"I love you," Alice whispered into that space. She touched the tip of her nose to her human's and the pilgrims pulled back, smiling and warming them both from the crowns of their heads to the pads of their toes.

"And I, you," Bella had the strength to whisper back before she closed the space and kissed Alice again.

Only the sound of a door closing on the second floor broke them apart again. As they stared up the stairs, Charlie's disembodied voice called, "Alice? Is that your car out there?"

Bella gasped, calling Alice's attention back to her. "It's time," she said, her voice still hushed and Alice let herself be filled with the feel of her lover's chest rising and falling against her own.

"Yep!" the vampire said, loud enough sot hat her answer could be both a response to Bella's and to Charlie's. Her lover gave her one final squeeze as Chief Swan walked over to them, then they broke apart and turned to face the future.


	3. Chapter 3

_He couldn't have been more startled if we'd told him we were planning to go live on Mars for the remainder of our days,_ Alice thought as she watched her future father-in-law's jaw hanging as if it would only swing on a broken hinge. They'd brought him into the living room for the chat, sitting him down on the closest couch, the one that had been shoved against a wall, and standing in front of him with their hands clasped. It was their best attempt at a united front that they could muster under the circumstances.

In truth, Alice had the good sense to feel guilty. She'd been the one to barge into the Swan household, not necessarily declaring her love the way she'd imagined (shouting it to the rooftops would've made the situation even more difficult than their current endeavor suggested it might've been), but the quiet exclamation had been enough. Regardless, Bella had wasted no time in pulling her father over.

_Like a band-aid,_ Alice told herself when she found her arm being tugged and her body being led into the family room after both of the humans. The announcement came soon after: quick, sweet, to the point. It happened so fast that Charlie's look of disbelief hadn't been quite as unfounded as if they'd led into the moment with a subtle hint at where they were going—and if they'd tackled the whole affair later in the day. Which brought them to where they'd landed themselves: two young (presumably) women making a gigantic announcement to the man who was considered one part of their two-world journey in celebrating a union of love.

For a second, he just stared at his daughter before he spared a glance at Alice. The shock of hearing this—and seeing the person in question—must've been too much because he could barely keep his eyes on the vampire.

"Wait, you're—serious?" he asked. He sounded like he was choking on his words.

Alice felt Bella let go of her hand before she saw her human lover wringing her fingers together from the corner of her eye. Sensing her lover's distress, Alice longed to reach out. She even moved a bit closer, trying to offer some kind of comfort against this gaping and mischievous unknown, but the more she shifted, the more Charlie's eyes would flit back to her. Without knowing how, she found herself pinned under his gaze, freezing in place until he turned back to his shuffling daughter.

"Please don't be mad," Bella whispered, the tension twisting her face.

_We're afraid,_ Alice realized as she hesitated before her father-in-law and studied her lover's reactions to the challenge they'd been presented. The words had barely made a dent in her head before she felt the urge to laugh at them. _That's new. I've hardly been afraid of Charlie._

He sat up, staring hard at his daughter. "Mad? I'm—I'm not—" he gave a small laugh, but the gesture was empty of happiness. Instead, it just seemed to deflate his chest a bit more under his t-shirt-and-plaid-overshirt-combination. For a second, he shook his head. Raising a hand to his hair, he gaped, turning his attention to the floor behind their legs.

"I don't know what I am," he muttered, standing up. "But I sure as hell know that I need a drink."

Alice felt her heart plummet in her chest as he walked out of the room and into the dining room. Still wringing her hands, Bella started to hurry after him, calling "Dad, wait!" and then stopping in the doorway to the kitchen. With a quick glance over her shoulder, she skipped back to Alice, her eyes wide and her chin quivering.

"What's going to happen?" she whispered, he voice thin with fear. "Have you Seen anything? Can you look into the future?"

Shaking her head, Alice grasped her lover's trembling fingers and brought them to her lips. "I'm sorry. I don't want to See anything. I want to trust that our love is enough," she said, almost pleading with her lover as Bella turned away with a scoff. "It's just like you said, isn't it? Our love should be enough, shouldn't it? I thought we would trust that."

In the door, Bella turned, her dark eyes swimming with tears. The useless breaths caught in Alice's chest and a gaping wound she hadn't known existed before seemed to open itself wider. With a start, she realized it was the worry she'd locked away in her heart upon entering the house. Somehow, in all of the chaos, it'd gotten out and was feeding off of the troubles filling the living room and the dining room.

_It's not enough right now,_ Bella's eyes seemed to say.

"I'm sorry," Alice whispered.

Bella just turned and disappeared into the next room. Sighing, Alice took a seat on the couch where Charlie had been. Though she kept her eyes on the rug, tracing patterns where there weren't any into the floor, she had her ears firmly on the dining room. Even though the Swans were whispering, she could hear as if they'd chosen to stand right next to her and she imagined that, if she'd been in any other situation, Alice would've been aggravated by that. She wasn't a fan of people talking about her when she was within the same proximity as them.

"I'm sorry, dad," she heard Bella whisper, the sound of which broke Alice's heart. She didn't want her lover to be sorry and the invisible wound in her chest only grew, but she tried to push past it in order to listen. "I'm sorry we sprang it on you like this."

There was a gulping sound and Alice equated this with Charlie swallowing something—presumably his drink. "That's not what I'm worried about and you know it. Married, Bella? Really? I mean, come on, a day ago—"

"Two days," Bella muttered.

"—You'd started dating this girl. Or you told me you were. And I didn't want to believe it then. I mean, haven't you just gotten back together with Edward?"

In the short silence that punctuated the question, Alice could almost see Bella shaking her head. The smallest of smiles tickled the vampire's face, gone as quickly as it'd appeared. "This is different from Alice. She's not like him. She's—better. She's better with me. We're happy together."

"Right, and that's fine. Be happy. Be—with her. Whatever it is you want to call it. But _married?_ Bella—" Alice heard something heavy scrape across what could've been the table. She pictured Charlie putting his drink down as equally heavy footfalls made the floorboards creak—she associated this with him closing the distance between himself and his daughter. Glancing into the room after them, she saw only the light from the window and realized that they must've been hidden behind the wall.

"Bella, listen to me. Your mother did this, too. Remember? She got married early and—" He sighed, a heavy-hearted sound that pressed the backs of Alice's eyes. Folding her hands in her lap, Alice concentrated on them again. "She—regretted it. A lot."

"I'm not going to end up like her," Bella said. Alice cold almost hear the shrug in her voice. "Besides, it's just an engagement. It's not like we're going to get married right away. Think of it like—a promise. A promise to be loyal to each other."

Charlie's snort came out louder than the vampire had expected and she jumped a bit, making the couch springs squeak with the movement. Making a face and glancing at the door just in case they'd heard, she tried to put her embarrassment to the wayside as he spoke. "You can be loyal to a person without getting engaged to them."

"But I want it to be more serious than that. I _am_ sorry we brought this to you this way. I know it's surprising—"

"That's an understatement," Charlie muttered with a humorless laugh.

"—But this is important to me."

A long silence filled the space between both rooms and Alice found herself holding her breath, as if all the air in the world had been sucked from her chest while she waited. Finally, she heard the floorboards creak with his shuffling weight.

"An engagement is a huge commitment, Bella. It's not like playing house."

"I know that," his daughter whispered, but there was assurance in her voice.

"It's a promise. It means more than just dating to most people. It's not something you fling around lightly."

"But you like Alice. At least—you did, until I started dating her."

He gave another laugh, though there was more humor to this one. "I was confused! Bella, I have a hard time keeping up with your mom, much less keeping up with you. I can't figure out what you're doing half the time. First you're with Edward, now you're with Alice—I can't tell if you're pulling my chain or if you're really serious. And it's such a far leap to go, loving one kind of person to loving another."

"You mean going from straight to gay?" Bella asked. The hardened tone of her voice set Alice's teeth on edge and she found herself tensing as she waited for the springbuck of Charlie's disapproval. She didn't honestly know if that was where this conversation was going, but she'd read enough—and watched enough TV—to know how it worked most often.

"Y-yeah," he admitted in a rush of breath. "That's kind of—startling, I'll admit. I didn't expect it out of you."

"Well, I didn't expect it from me, either, but there you go," Bella said, that shrug back in her voice. Another silence punctuated the conversation, but there was less tension now, given the explosion Alice had expected to see happen had been surpassed in what felt to her like a huge way. Breathing easier, she sat back and listened as father and daughter shifted their weights, wondering what was going to happen now.

"So are you going to lighten up around her? Are you going to be okay with this?" Bella asked. Her voice had gentled, though her words suggested a kind of challenging fire.

"As long as you take it seriously," Charlie said. A long creak warned Alice that he was turning back into the room, but as she shot to her feet, he stopped, keeping his attention on the other side of the doorway. "Oh, and you have to tell your mom. I'm not dealing with that part."

"Understood," Bella said, her voice growing louder as she followed her father back into the room.

Alice found herself holding her breath again. The Swans walked back in, Charlie in the front with a caramel-colored drink in hand. Even with that present, he offered her an easy smile, the friendly, fatherly one he'd often given her when she'd visited the house in the past. It made the nerves in her body settle and she accepted his hand when he offered it to her.

"It seems to me that congratulations are in order, future daughter-in-law," he whispered, a half-smile dimpling his weather-worn face.

"And they're accepted graciously," Alice said, her own smile warming up her cheeks as Bella slipped around to take the vampire's free hand and making them a united front again.


	4. Chapter 4

Once all of the hullaballoo with Charlie had finished and they could settle down again without him freaking out over the engagement, Bella led Alice upstairs.

"No funny business," Charlie called up after them as he disappeared into the kitchen with his empty drink glass. "You might be engaged, but it's still my house."

"We won't, dad," Bella called back. She rolled her eyes at Alice, a giggle forming on her lips, but even despite the apparent joking around, the vampire could sense the seriousness behind the request and accommodation. Neither of the Swans wanted another blow-out, however minor the first one had been.

"I keep forgetting you've never really been in my house," Bella said when she opened the door to her room.

"No, I haven't," Alice said. As she entered the space, a big smile spread across her lips. Strings of lights hung from the top of the walls near the ceiling, a desk against the olive-green wall to her right, a bureau just beyond that, and a long, twin-sized bed with deep purple sheets and a swirling, glittering design all drew her attention to the dimly lit room. Framed pictures and lampshades and lace curtains touched a string in Alice's heart that resonated with the world she'd just walked into.

With a deep remembrance, she wished violently that this had been her own world growing up. It was exemplifying everything she loved so dearly about the feminine being at war with the teenage desire to be different and to figure out where they belong. It was also the most alien place she'd ever encountered outside of a haunted cave, a place so radical from her own sensibilities that she had to cover the giggle that tried to escape her mouth.

"I know it's not the greatest, but—I kind of like it, a little, I think," Bella said and Alice could hear her lover retreating into her previous realms of self-doubt that had been her hallmark when she'd first arrived in Forks. She watched the girl from the corner of her eye, tracing the pattern of her hands as they reached for the long edges of her shirt sleeves and pulled them down over her knuckles. It was a gesture so common for her lover that Alice longed to pull Bella's hands out of her shirt and spread the human girl's arms wide, welcoming the world instead of skittering away from it.

"Normally, I'd say this place needs a lot of work," Alice admitted, sticking her hands in her pockets as she studied the room with a pseudo-designer's eye. Giving the blushing human a sly smile, she leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to her lover's cheek. "But it makes so much sense for you. I can see you in everything. The bedroom is probably the greatest place to get a sense for the developing child."

"And now I'm a woman," Bella muttered. "So it doesn't make much sense anymore, does it?"

Throwing back her head, Alice let out a barking laugh. She wound her arm around Bella's, pulling the girl close to her side. "It makes plenty of sense. But you don't have to live here forever. One day, we'll get married and then we can find our own place and the bedroom—or study, or whatever it is we have when we move out—can be as modern or as sensual as you like."

"Only stylized, because it's you," Bella said, nudging Alice's side with her elbow.

With an enthusiastic nod, Alice grinned. "Precisely."

"Speaking of marriage, though…" Bella muttered. She extracted her arm from Alice's and slipped out the door before peeking back in. "I'll just be a second," she said.

"O-okay," Alice called, but her lover was already hurrying down the stairs. For a second, she considered going to the door and listening in on the conversation the way she'd done with the announcement. Biting back the temptation, she pushed herself to the far corner of the room, winding up at the window and feigning interest in Bella's CD collection just as the human thundered back up the stairs.

"One more second!" Bella called, disappearing down the hall.

"Okay," Alice called again, bending and running her fingers across the small film of dust covering some of the CDs. None of the titles were familiar to her, but the sight of the music there—MUSE and Red Hot Chili Peppers—made her shake her head. "Some odd stuff, isn't it?" she murmured to herself as she heard her lover walking back into the doorway.

With flushed cheeks, Bella came to a stop beside Alice, holding a small, blue, velvet box in her hands. "You can't be engaged without this," she said, winking.

Popping the lid open, Alice's jaw dropped at the ring hidden within the container. It wasn't a huge ring, but the three tiny diamonds set in a thick gold band glimmered up at her from their bed of blue. She held out her hand to Bella. "Can you put it on me?"

"Sure," Bella whispered, biting her lip as she took the ring from the box and slid it onto Alice's left ring finger. Both of their hands shook as the event—so small and yet so powerful—happened before them, almost as if it was happening to somebody else in another world and they were only watching it on some giant Big Brother-esque TV. "It was my grandmother's," Bella said, her voice still soft. A quiet smile spread through her eyes. "The diamonds are the ones she and my grandfather got when they got the ring upgraded and dad had her wedding band cut in half to make the engagement ring bigger after she died. So that's why the band is so huge compared to where the diamonds are sitting," she said with a laugh.

"It's beautiful," Alice whispered, turning her hand so that the light would catch the facets. "I love it, almost as much as I love you."

While Alice examined the ring, she saw the wistful smile on Bella's face fall away. The human took her vampire lover's hands, rubbing her thumbs over the backs of Alice's knuckles, not saying anything until she saw the genuine curiosity in Alice's eyes. "I want to apologize for earlier," she said in a low voice, her eyes flicking to the half-open door and the sounds of Charlie's TV playing on the floor beneath them. "I didn't mean to be such a bully about the future thing. I was wrong to demand something like that from you."

The breath left Alice's chest and she cupped her lover's cheek in her hand. "Bella," she whispered.

Bella shook her head. "It was nerves. I was nervous and scared and I didn't want to see the future fall apart right there and then. That's why I did it. That's why I got so upset when you said no."

Gifting her lover a small smile, Alice kissed the tip of Bella's nose. The human girl ducked her head, blushing furiously at the ground. Whether it was from embarrassment or happiness over being forgiven, the vampire couldn't tell. "Remember what I said a long time ago?"

Bella shook her head at the ground.

"When we first met you and first figured out that James was coming after us, we went all the way back to Arizona. In the hotel, I had a Vision about where the tracker was and what he was doing. He kept startling us because he kept changing course, so his future was never set in stone. _Our _future was never set in stone. Do you know why that's important?"

This time, Bella looked up, but she still shook her head.

"Because the future changes based on what you decide to do. You could've yielded to your father's wishes for us not to get engaged, but you didn't. You told him how much this meant to you—to us—and you brought him around. You chose to confront him about the fact that you were choosing to marry—or get engaged to—a woman, something that he might never have mentioned later on."

Dropping Bella's hands, Alice took her lover's shoulders instead, bending just slightly so that both women could look one another in the eyes. "You made the choices that changed how things happened today. They could've gone in a hundred thousand directions, but they didn't. I mean, yes, Charlie's decisions and my decisions could've impacted any of this. But even if I'd seen the future before, it wouldn't necessarily have happened the same way in real life. It's too unstable because we change our minds or decide our own courses of action. Does that make sense?"

Bella nodded and let Alice pull her into the vampire's chest. Alice could feel her burying her face into the shoulder of the vampire's jacket and she wrapped her arms closer around her lover's waist.

"I'm sorry," the human girl whispered one last time.

Pressing a kiss into her hair, Alice rocked them side to side, as gently as a baby's cradle. "It's okay," she whispered back. They held each other until the buzzing of Alice's phone in her pocket broke them apart. Digging it out and flipping it open, she read a quick text from Jasper that made her suck in a hard breath. "Or maybe it's not," she said.


	5. Chapter 5

"Alice, can you please slow down?" Bella gasped as she raced after her vampire lover down the stairs. "At least tell me what's happening?" she hissed when they hit the first floor.

To the left, Charlie came towards them, confusion written all over his face. Alice could hear the sound of his question even as it was forming in his head, and she paused before the front door.

"I'm sorry we have to leave so abruptly," she said, trying to keep the haste and the tension out of her voice. From the corner of her eye, she could see Bella looking from her father to her vampire. A slew of emotions played across her face and in that second, Alice would've given almost anything for Edward to be able to read her lover's mind, just so she could find out what was going on. "There's an emergency at my house and I'd really like it if Bella could be there for moral support."

Her heart began to crack in places when she saw Charlie's face fall, something that involved his shoulders going limp as well. It made everything about him seem to sag, the same way he'd looked earlier that morning when they'd made the announcement.

"Oh," he said, all the breath going out of him. "You're sure it can't wait?" he asked, and she could feel him grasping for straws. A small smile touched her lips. It was all she could do not to touch his arm and console him. "I mean, you haven't even had breakfast yet."

She shook her head. "Thank you, but no. We really need to get going. This isn't going to wait," she said, opening the door while she spoke.

Charlie made a noise and Alice stalled, glancing at him over her shoulder. Just behind her, she could see Bella sliding her arms into a coat. "How did you like the ring? I haven't gotten to see you in it."

A blush stole across Alice's face and she found herself grinning widely, like the fool in love that she was. Cradling the hand in question, she held it out for him to see. "It's beautiful. I love it. Thank you so much for your generosity in letting me have this."

Charlie waved it off as he came over and took her hand. If the cold he felt there shocked him, he didn't said anything. Instead, he turned the ring over, leaning back to give it some light. "It was nothing. It was Bella's idea, really. She was the one who suggested it. I was going to give it to her when she got older anyway—you know, as an engagement present or something," he said and shrugged, giving Alice her hand back as he stuck his own in his pockets. "Anyway, I'm glad it's fallen into good hands. It looks good on you."

"Thank you, Charlie," Alice said, still grinning as she touched the tops of the stones set in gold. She was pulled roughly back to the present when she felt Bella's hand on her arm.

"We should probably get going," she whispered.

"Yes," Alice said, turning out the door and into the bright, cold morning. "Thank you again, Charlie."

"I'll see you later, dad," Bella called over her shoulder as they fast-walked to the car.

"Don't be strangers," he said after them.

Alice could barely keep her teeth from chattering, and her legs from moving at warp-speeds, as they crossed the lawn at what felt like a snail's pace to reach her parking spot. "Is he looking?" she hissed between tightly pressed lips while Bella half-jogged beside her.

The human glanced over her shoulder and sent a wave back to the house. "Yep," she muttered.

Alice sighed, pulling out her keys and making a big deal of rustling through them. She used the noise to mask their talk. "All right, get in the car. I'll explain everything on the way," she said. With a final wave to Charlie, she planted herself in the driver's seat, turning the car on until it roared. In moments, she had them down the road and turning off towards the Cullen house.

"What's going on?" Bella asked after they'd turned a couple of streets in silence.

Alice sighed through her nose, watching the green-gray-black of the world swirl around them as they drove past, going to fast down roads that were too narrow. She culled up the image of the text in her head, wanting to spit and curse at the thought of it. "Jasper messaged me. He told me that the Volturi had visited."

The stunned silence that filled the car was enough to shake even Alice to her core. "I know," she whispered.

"But why?" Bella demanded. Her words came out almost as one and from the corner of her eye, Alice could see her lover pushing her hands through her hair in distress. "I mean, we just talked to them, what? Two days ago?"

"Not even," Alice muttered.

"Then what the hell are they still doing here? I thought they would've went back to Rome."

"Volterra," Alice correctly gently. "And no, I didn't think that they were leaving. They never said they were going away. At the field, they'd said they would be around, or something like that." She wave a hand. "The details are a little fuzzy for me."

"So what they hell were they doing?" Bella asked.

For this, Alice could only shake her head. "I don't know. I stopped watching my Visions, even when they pulled me, because I didn't want there to be something about us in them. Apparently, I was half wrong."

"Half?"

Alice glanced at her lover from the corner of her eye and gave her a tight half-smile. "I was mostly trying not to see anything about us and Charlie. The announcement and everything. I wanted that to be a total surprise, but I didn't even think about anything that would've involved the Volturi directly." Breathing hard, Alice sucked her lip as she worried this over in her head. "If they're contacting us again, at this late of an hour, they must be really damned serious about something. Probably you, but maybe not. Maybe…we got lucky this time."

She tried not to hear the sarcasm in Bella's dry, humorless laugh. "What could they be contacting you about that could possibly make us lucky from their visit?"

Alice shook her head. "I don't know," she whispered.

After another long pause that took them almost to the end of the Cullen's street, Bella sat up straighter. "Why didn't Edward contact you about anything? Why was it Jasper who reached out?"

"Maybe because Jasper's still somewhat tied to me," Alice said, turning them up the driveway. They broke through the curtain of trees and pulled up to the tall, glass-and-wood structure that was the Cullen house, where she parked right behind Edward's car. After staring at the place in silence for a second or two, it struck her just how cold and distant the Cullen house seemed to be compared to the Swan residence. Shaking that feeling off, Alice unbuckled herself. "Maybe he's afraid that I didn't respond fast enough to a Vision, or afraid that I didn't have a Vision at all."

"But you didn't," Bella said from over the top of the car.

Alice closed her door, stuffing the keys back into her pocket and taking her lover's hand as they walked up the stairs. "I know," she muttered, following the sight of her mother as Esme appeared in the doorway.


	6. Chapter 6

At the sight of her mother, Alice pulled up short. "Where are the Volturi?"

Esme's shoulders dropped at the question and she folded her hands in front of her, but the worry didn't leave her face. "Gone. They took off as soon as they were informed that Bella hadn't been turned yet," she said, her eyes drifting over the human girl for a minute.

Flabbergasted, Alice shook her head and ran a hand through her hair, trying to cull up the words she wanted to say first. "But—wh—"

"Come on inside," Esme said, holding a hand out to her and leading them both into the house. "Your father needs to talk to you."

Swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat, Alice took hold of Bella's fingers and gave them a great squeeze. They followed Esme in silence through the bulk of the house, wandering up the stairs to the open living room where a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows looked out on the growing day. Here, Alice half-broke her stride at the sight of her entire family, plus Bree, standing around with drawn faces. Carlisle had his head bowed and was talking to Edward where the boy sat on the couch, but when all three women entered, he straightened, his hands deep in his pockets.

"Good. We're all here," he said, his tone low and even. Despite how calm he appeared, Alice could feel herself beginning to tremble, her whole body holding its breath for what she hoped wasn't going to be a huge amount of trouble. "Esme, do you want to lead this discussion?"

Their mother nodded, stepping forward for everyone to see just as Rosalie snorted. It was a harsh, cruel sound that split the tense silence and Alice felt her shoulders relaxing as the very thing she was waiting for was beginning.

"Discussion?" her sister asked, not trying to hide the disdain in her voice.

"Rosalie," Carlisle warned.

"This is hardly a discussion," she went on, turning to Alice. "The Volturi visited again. They want _her_ turned," she said, nodding to Bella. "It's either that, or they're going to take her away and kill her, or something. I don't know what it is they do with people who don't obey them, but that's what's going to happen, I know it." Even though she had no blood of her own running through her veins, her cheeks had gotten very red and her eyes began to swim in tears. Alice saw the tremor in her body, the same fear that had been snaking its way through her own skin and was now curling in her stomach while it awaited a verdict.

"That's enough, Rose," Carlisle said one final time.

Clenching her jaw, Rosalie sat back, leaning into the comfort of Emmett's arm.

"Well, I know it isn't that," Alice said, stepping forward and shoving her hands in her pockets to mirror her father. The rest of the family stared at her and she realized they couldn't figure out where she was going with this. "I've been Watching them this whole time. They haven't decided to kill anybody."

"Then you haven't been Watching," Esme said with a small, humorless laugh. "That's what the point of this meeting is—they've convened today and told us that Bella needs to be turned."

"You haven't been Watching at all, have you?" Carlisle whispered.

For a moment, every face in the room was on Alice. She floundered, feeling like an idiot with her gaping jaw and her lack of proper rebuttal. "No, I haven't," she admitted, staring at the floor. "I've been trying not to watch because there was a personal matter that I wanted to see through without using the future as a guide."

"And what was that?" Esme asked, her voice gentle.

Licking her lips, Alice glanced up. Her eyes first turned to Jasper, whose brow still sat low on his face, where it had been since the day before. She almost wondered if it was ever going to lighten up, or if she'd permanently damaged it by turning him away. It lowered even further when he caught her eyes, as if asking her a question that she couldn't hear. When she glanced at Edward's face, searching for a possible reaction to hearing Jasper's thoughts, she found neutrality.

_He's probably blocking our thoughts the way I was blocking my Visions._

At that, her brother looked up and his whole brow lightened. Sorrow replaced the look of contemplation, which caught her heart and tugged at its strings. With the slightest nod, he answered her unspoken question and then turned back to his thinking.

"If it's all the same to you, it's just personal. There's nothing much to it," Alice said to her mother. Behind her, she could feel Bella's hand on her arm, offering silent support.

"Well, whatever it is, you're going to need to turn your Visions back on so that we can See the Volturi," Carlisle said, his tone matter-of-fact.

Alice nodded just as Bree spoke up from her small place beside Jasper. "Why do the Volturi want her turned?" she asked in a little voice. The newborn girl had cleaned up a bit since being freed from Riley's and Victoria's clutches. Her hair had been washed and braided back, her clothes changed, and her face cleansed of all its smudges. She looked almost like a little girl again, instead of a half-lost child wandering in the woods. Alice didn't even mind that the girl wore her clothes, the smallest of which would fit her without issue.

"Because she's human," Jasper said before anyone else could answer. The tone of his voice, matter-of-fact, but also unyielding, almost suggested that the answer anyone else would've given might lead Bree astray of the truth. For some reason, it made Alice glad that he'd been the one to say this out loud, instead of trying to couch it in language the way Carlisle or Esme might. Her old flame turned his eyes on Bella, studying her without concern. "She's been involved with us for a very long time without us feeding on her, which is something the blood-drinking Volturi don't understand. Their concern is that someone will find out about us because she's not a vampire yet. She's not living with us, but she's walking among us, and she has family. If anything were to happen to her—"

"Which nothing will," Alice interrupted in a hard voice. Jasper just nodded at her.

"—Then someone will come looking and ask questions and we just can't have that."

"Unfortunately," Carlisle said, taking a deep breath and stepping forward, "things are going to have to change."

Alice felt her heart and stomach drop into her butt. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Her father had the goodness within him to offer her a sad smile before turning his eyes on Bella. "The Volturi aren't waiting. They're sitting in the shadows of Forks, or Washington, or wherever it is they're staying now. This isn't just to keep an eye out where problems have existed—they're sending us a warning. "Turn her, or we'll intervene."" He shook his head. "We can't have that. As gracious as they've been, we can't allow them to doubt us. They could break up the coven, or worse, kill us all."

"And what does that mean?" Alice demanded. She slipped a hand from her pocket and grasped Bella's, pressing into the human girl the way the human girl was pressing into her.

"It means Bella has to be Turned. Tonight," Esme said, her voice barely a whisper from the opposite side of the room.


	7. Chapter 7

"I haven't even had a chance to tell my mom about the engagement yet," Bella whispered, the tears in her eyes reflecting the tears in her voice.

With a coo, Alice pulled her lover into her arms, squeezing the human girl's shoulders tight. Bella gripped the back of the vampire's shirt as she sobbed and no matter how many kisses Alice pressed to her lover's hair, she couldn't shake the trembling in her body, the one echoing the tremors climbing through Bella.

They sat this way for a long time, cradled in Alice's room while the vampire listened for her motionless family talking downstairs. The light changed as it traveled across the room, roving from the foot of Alice's bed to the wall against which the bed stood, but she didn't shift her weight until her lover had done so.

Sitting up, Bella wiped the tears from her eyes and picked up her phone, scrolling through it once. After a moment, she put it back down, the corners of her mouth pressing towards her chin. "How am I going to tell my dad?" she asked in barely a whisper. She rubbed her hands over her face, sniffling hard before turning her gaze on Alice. "How am I going to tell him that I can't come home? How am I—going to tell my _mom_ that I can't come visit her. Ever." She shook her head, laughing without humor.

Alice took her lover's face in her hands. "We could lie. We could say you got sick, or that the situation is worse and we need you around to help—"

Bella shook her head again, pushing Alice's hands away. Standing up, the human girl moved to the window, pulling her shirt down and wrapping her arms around her waist. The vampire tried not to be distracted by how the light played off her lover's hair, catching the gold in the sun and turning it red, bringing out the pink in Bella's cheeks.

"It's not that simple," Bella whispered, bringing Alice back to the present. "My dad will come after us. We left too quickly and he'll want to know what's going on…and when he finds out, then he's gong to want me to tell my mother—" She buried her face in her hands. "This is so messed up.

"Why don't we go hang out with him, then? Right now," Alice said. She followed Bella to the window and grasped her lover's wrists, urging her hands away from her face. When the human girl would look at her again, the vampire tried to give her what she hoped looked like an encouraging smile. "You can call your mom—let her know about the _engagement_," she said, grinning widely to force enthusiasm back into the situation. "Let her know we're not planning the wedding for a while, but that we'll see her then and she'll be one of the first to get an invitation."

As she spoke, Alice watched Bella's face morph from distress to concern to something that might've been hope, but was too marred by uncertainty to be complete. Bella nodded at last and the vampire felt herself relaxing, though she hadn't been aware of just how tense the whole situation had made her. Taking her hands back from Alice, the human girl wiped her face again sniffling hard and wandering back to the bed where her phone lay on the beautiful, and now beautifully wrinkled, coverlet.

"I'll have to tell Jake, too," she muttered darkly, pushing her hair behind one ear as she scrolled through her contacts list.

"Tell him last," Alice urged. She was making her way to the door, her thoughts already forming around what she was going to tell her family about their new developments. When Bella glanced up, sucking on her lower lip and frowning at Alice in confusion, the vampire sighed. "He's going to be kind of—difficult about this. You know he will be. I mean, if the way he reacted when we told him our news two days ago is any indication, then this is going to get gnarly with him."

She could see her lover starting to roll her eyes, but then Bella stopped herself at the last minute. Nodding, she stuck her thumbnail between her teeth and kept scrolling, which Alice took as a dismissal to tell her family what was going on.

The family had split themselves into three parts: Edward with Jasper and Bree in the library, Rosalie and Emmett at the kitchen table, and her parents at the sink. All were muttering in low voices when she appeared, though Jasper's group looked the most surprised to see her standing in the doorway.

"Is everything all right?" Jasper asked, getting to his feet. He and Bree had been sitting around a table laden with old books that Alice remembered from the times when Carlisle had been teaching her about their history and how the Volturi worked. By the looks of things, that was what Jasper was trying to do. She guessed that he'd been occupied up until he's sensed her distress upon walking into the room, and now that he'd announced it, she could feel Edward's mind-link reaching into her head. She quickly brushed it away with a nod.

"Bella's upstairs calling her parents. It's going to be quite a shock to them," she said, keeping her voice low.

"Why, what's she telling them?" Edward asked, straightening from where he was leaning against a bookshelf. Every face in the room hardened.

"Just that we're getting married and the wedding's not for a little while, so she'll let them know when it is."

Edward's eyebrows shot to his hairline. "You are?" he asked, though whether it was for Jasper's benefit or because he really hadn't known, she couldn't tell.

"Why not just tell them you're eloping? Jasper asked. If the news of the wedding surprised him, he hid it well.

"We could. I mean, we already told Charlie we were engaged, but I suppose one more transgression for her safety's sake won't hurt anyone."

"Talk to Carlisle," Edward said, turning back to the table where Bree was working—or supposed to be. Her attention had lingered to the conversation around her. "He'll know what to do."

So she went to the kitchen next. When Alice explained what was happening and what they planned to do, her father nodded, swirling a cup of hot animal blood in a mug.

"That might be a good idea. It falls in line with the whole 'young love' thing. I mean, other than the fact that he's a cop, it should be fairly easy to get away with. I know plenty of young couples who've eloped because they didn't want to deal with the repercussions of telling their family about a relationship."

"In this day and age?" Esme asked, shaking her head at him. She surprised them all with a humorless laugh, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'd say just running away. Tell him you're moving to Seattle, or California, or something. You wanted to get a head start on your own lives and this is how you're going to do it. She's eighteen, you've both graduated high school, and you're going to find a place where you can live together. Say you're going to try your luck."

She borrowed the mug from Carlisle for a sip and then returned it to his waiting hand. "Eloping is good enough, but then take it to another level. You're young and stupid, or so he'll think. You'll be back home soon enough, but this is something you need to get out of your system. He should understand that, if Bella's mother doesn't."

Head spinning with this news, Alice climbed the stairs to her room, stopping short before the door when she caught the end of Bella's conversation.

"Yeah, mom, I know. I can't believe it, either. It just kind of—happened, I guess. But I'm really happy this way mom," she whispered, her voice sounding wistful. It brought a smile to Alice's face, one that wouldn't be dampened by the situation before them "I didn't expect to be, but—I really am."

Standing up straighter, Alice knocked and leaned into the room. Bella caught her eyes and sat up where she was sprawled across the bed, waving her in.

"Yeah, mom, I'll let you know. The wedding might not be for a while. You'll be the first to get your invitation," she said. A few more giggles punctuated the silence on the human girl's side of the line, but after a moment or two, she said I love you and hung up.

"Now for Jake," she said with a sigh. Pushing her hand through her hair, she dialed the number and got to her feet, pacing in front of the window while Alice settled herself onto the bed, soaking up the warmth her lover left behind.


	8. Chapter 8

"I don't have any other choice," Bella said for the umpteenth time. She was beginning to roll her eyes and shake her head and hold the phone away from her ear so that she could wipe stray tears from her face. The more Alice watched the one-sided exchange, the more she wanted to close the phone. Every time she leaned over to do just that, Bella would shake her head and back away, coveting the device by the window, where the world beyond was growing quickly darker.

"Jacob, listen to me. It's not as simple as not dating Alice or Edward or anyone," she said in a calm, even tone that didn't match the strain in her jaw or the anger and despair flashing in her eyes. "The Volturi know that I know a lot about vampires. They know I've been living with them for a while and they know that I know almost everything about them. It's strict."

A pause filled the room, the silence broken only by the tinny, faraway sound of Jake's talking.

"Like Sam Uley strict!" she snapped, her composure finally breaking.

Just as Bella spoke, Alice thought she heard a creak outside the door. Getting up on quiet feet, she tiptoed into the hall and found Jasper hovering two feet away. She deflated with a laugh, feeling all the panic she hadn't known she'd been carrying melt from her shoulders.

"Oh, you scared me," she said, moving to close the door on Bella and the conversation that had turned to the human girl justifying her reference to Sam in order to show the true extent of the situation.

Jasper wasn't laughing, though. He shook his head when Alice closed the door, bobbing and weaving in order to see inside. "Is she okay? It's really—tense over here."

Alice sighed and spared a quick glance at the door as she shoved her hands in her pockets. "Tense is probably the mildest word you could use. I think Jake's not taking it well."

"Jake?"

"The wolf?" she asked, raising a brow and giving him a teasing smile.

The confusion on Jasper's face disappeared. "Right, sorry. What's his angle on all this?"

"I think he wants her to just stop hanging out with us because if she does, I think he believes the Volturi won't come after her and we won't have to change her."

Making a face, Jasper leaned his shoulder against the wall. "It doesn't work like that," he muttered, sounding almost wistful at the idea.

"I know. I mean, we all want to keep Bella safe, but—"

"The Volturi have their rules," Jasper said, nodding and closing his eyes. She watched a deep frown line appear between his eyebrows. It made her wonder just how long it had been since he'd smiled and she tried not to think that it'd been since before she'd broken up with him. The moment the idea came to mind, she pushed it away. It felt selfish, thinking that someone else couldn't make him smile like that. For all she knew, he and Bree and Edward were having a grand old time. For all she knew, the stress of being around an old flame was killing that buzz.

"So she's trying to explain the Volturi thing to Jake and he's not taking it well, considering we've been here since…" she turned and glanced out the window where the sun was starting to turn molten gold and the sky was deepening in its pinks and blues. "Well, too long."

Jasper shook his head again as he stood up. "It's her choice, not his. She chose to hang out around us and now she's going to pay the price." She watched him shrug, but the gesture wasn't echoed in his eyes, which made her even sadder for him.

"It's a terrible price," she said in a low tone.

They stood in silence for a long time after that, just listening to the back and forth on the other side of the door that neither of them could properly follow. Just when she thought things were going to get strained and awkward between them, he looked up.

"How've you been? Your emotions are all over the place," he said with a wry smile.

She gave him a light laugh. "Yeah, you could say that again," she said. A moment later, she felt something light and gentle come over her. It wasn't heat or cold, but a soothing brush she knew too well as his mood control. She didn't tell him to stop or how much she needed, but she let it wash over her instead, filling her mind with clarity and an easygoing sensation of moderate peace. The feeling reminded her of how she'd felt when she first told Bella she'd been in love with her all this time, and how Bella had made her feel when the feelings had been returned.

"Thanks," she said when the sensation melted away.

His smile was bright, his eyes kind. "No problem," he said.

They were holding gazes when the door opened and a flustered, tear-stained Bella appeared in front of them. She was pushing the hair from her face and sniffling hard, but she straightened her shirt and tried to hold her chin up.

"O-okay," she said, sniffling again. "I think we're good to go to Charlie's."

When neither vampire moved, only stared at the girl, Bella glanced between them, her swollen eyes wide. "What?"

Alice wrapped her arms around her lover's waist, pulling her in tight and pressing a kiss to her cheek. "Are you okay?" she asked, her concerns leaking out like water in a cracked ceramic bowl.

Bella sighed into Alice's shoulder, giving her an equally mighty hug in return. "I'm fine," she said, though there was clear exhaustion and upset in her words. A wave of soothing feeling came over both of them and they looked up to see Jasper watching with worry.

He put up his hands and stepped back, the feeling receding with him. "Sorry about that."

"No, it's okay," Bella said quickly, pulling back from Alice and giving him a shaky smile. "Thank you. I'll need that if—if I'm going to get through tonight."

Alice watched her lover's face fall and her eyes go distant. She put a hand on Bella's shoulder, wishing there was something she could do or say along the lines of what Jasper had done that might make this tangibly easier. All she had were words and those seemed paltry in comparison.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked.

Bella's eyes went wide again. "What, turning?"

"No, Charlie's. Saying goodbye."

The words had scarily left Alice's mouth before Bella was nodding. "Yes. Absolutely. I owe him that much."

The vampire dropped her hand. "Okay," she said, turning to the hallway and leading her lover past Jasper. Her old flame followed in their wake, but he didn't say anything as they went to the front door and slipped out into the evening light. "Let's go, then." Alice turned to Jasper where he stopped on the front porch. "Tell the others we'll be back. We're just saying goodbye to Charlie."

"Sure thing," Jasper whispered. She could feel his eyes following them into the car. With a wave that he didn't return, and a lot more soul-shaking sniffles from Bella's rebound on the Jake conversation, Alice pulled them out of the driveway and they took off towards the Swan house.


	9. Chapter 9

For the first half of the ride, neither Bella nor Alice said anything. The former kept her eyes on the window, her hand tucked under her chin, and the latter stared at the road, sneaking glances at her passenger whenever she could. They reached the halfway point when Alice sighed and leaned her head back against the headrest a bit.

"I spoke to Carlisle and Esme about our dilemma with Charlie," she said as nonchalantly as she could. If her useless heart had worked, it would've been tapping out a rhythm fast enough to dance to.

Bella dropped her hand and turned back to her lover. "What did they say?"

"They think we should write an elopement letter before we leave. Something really simple and basic saying that we didn't want to make any trouble and we just wanted to be together. Something that says we've been planning this for a while and we just announced the engagement to kind of mollify everyone."

The human girl nodded, resting her hands in her lap.

"Do you think it sounds like a good plan?" Alice asked when Bella hadn't said anything. They drove on a long stretch of straight road, so she felt comfortable looking over and staring at her lover.

The human girl took a deep breath through her mouth, as if she was about to drop a bomb onto her lover, and then let it all out in a rush of air. "I guess. I mean, I'm trying to think of what Charlie would do if he ever found out. He's the kind who'd have the power to come looking for us."

"Yes," Alice said slowly. "But he's also not going to have any jurisdiction if we say we're going to California or Oregon or something."

Bella wrinkled her nose. "Oregon?"

Alice shrugged. "It's just a suggestion."

Silence filled the space in the car between them and Bella nodded again. "Okay. That might work. It would at least be a kind of human response, too."

The vampire laughed. "As opposed to what—camping in the mountains?" she asked, winking at her lover.

Bella shook her head, but a small smile played at her lips. "It's better than that "I tripped and fell" excuse I gave to them when James bit me," she said.

The reminder sobered Alice. From the corner of her eye, she could see Bella lifting her sleeve and absentmindedly tracing the scar on her wrist. Memories of that night threatened to surface, but Alice pushed them down again. Instead, she reached over and covered Bella's hands with hers. Only then did she notice that her lover's hands were shaking, a realization that sent a small jolt of alarm through her body. Details like that weren't something Alice easily missed, especially if they were human, because human details were so much louder and more obvious than any other creature's.

_I must be more distracted than I thought,_ she told herself.

She pulled up to the Swan house and parked the car, but they hadn't arrived for more than two seconds before Alice said, "Let's run away and never come back."

Bella, who had half of her body out of the car, stopped. She stared back at her lover with a half-amused and half-confused expression. "What?" she asked, a laugh slipping out from between her lips.

"I'm serious," Alice said, turning the keys over in her hands. "Maybe that's the answer to all this. Maybe if we just elope and run off somewhere—maybe to Florida with your mom, or something—then you won't need to be turned before you're ready and the Volturi won't do anything to you because you haven't become one of us yet."

The amusement on Bella's face turned hard. "Um, I can tell you a number of reasons why that won't work. Alice," she said, sitting back in her chair and staring at her lover. The vampire refused to meet her eyes, choosing instead to turn the ignition key over and reflect the light back towards the window. "Alice?" Bella asked, softly this time.

The vampire looked at her from under her eyelashes.

"I'm scared, too," the human girl whispered. Alice didn't move as Bella took hold of the hand with the keys and squeezed her fingers. "But we can't run from this. Not anymore. We've been running for a few months now and you know what's happening?"

Alice glanced up. The tears in Bella's eyes glittered and a pink tinge dotted the end of the human's nose.

"We're paying for it," she said in her quietest voice. The let that sink in for a few seconds before she took her hand back and opened her door wider. "Now, let's go inside. We'll visit with Charlie, we'll leave the note when he falls asleep, and then we'll do what we said we would."

Alice had no choice but to follow. She matched Charlie's smiles and answered all his questions, trying not to slip or to reveal anything. She felt like she was on autopilot as they ate steaks and watched TV and she wondered if Bella felt the same. Her lover put on a brave face as she teased her father, taking small sips of his beer just to drive him mad. When Chief Swan had disappeared into another room, though, the human girl's shoulders deflated and the bags under her eyes were dark.

When nine o'clock came around and everyone was nestled up in one chair or another, the game turned on low, Alice lay still while Bella slipped from her seat and wandered into the kitchen. Part of the vampire knew that she ought to follow—writing the letter was important and she needed to have a part in it. Another part liked sitting in the Swan living room too much to move. Her senses wandered around the room, breathing in the life and the small-town living of it all. There was something cozy and comfortable about being tucked away in this tiny corner of the planet. For all the modernity Alice lived with, she thought that having a cabin in the woods—this very one, in fact, though it was a house—wouldn't be half-bad if she needed to get away somewhere.

"It's done."

Bella's voice startled Alice awake and the vampire stared at the kitchen while her lover settled back into her chair. "You wrote it?"

The human nodded, but turned her attention back to the TV. In another moment, Charlie grunted himself out of his slumber and stood up.

"Well, girls, it was very nice visiting you, but I'm off to bed, if you don't mind," he said. He touched Bella's head with the flat of his hand, and then pressed his fingers to Alice's. "It's been a long day," he said.

"Goodnight, Mr. Swan," Alice called.

"Goodnight, dad," Bella said.

Alice glanced at the human girl when he'd gone upstairs, but she shook her head.

"Not yet," she whispered.

They stayed in the living room until the next show had started. Then, Bella led the way, rising from her seat and blowing a kiss up the stairs as she slid her coat on. Alice followed her to the door, casting a long look at the living room and the quiet house and wondering just how much Bella must be hoping things had ended differently.

Because Alice was wondering that very thing.


	10. Chapter 10

The car was silent all the way back to the Cullen house. Alice could hear Bella's foot tapping the floor, her knee bouncing with the speed of a jack rabbit on caffeine, but she didn't say anything. Her human lover had her face turned away towards the window as she chewed off her nails and watched the world slip past. It made her heart hurt for Bella. She wanted to say something—anything that might make this transition easier—but every thought she had was another thing to turn away.

She felt Edward slip into her thoughts as quietly as a shadow across the wall and with just as little disturbance to her own uproarious thoughts.

_How's she doing?_ His voice asked, low in her head.

Alice stole a quick glance at Bella. The human still sucked on her fingers, still kept her eyes to the glass, and Alice tried not to sigh too loudly.

_I'm not sure. I think she's coping. Have Jasper at the ready._

She could almost feel her foster brother nodding on the other end of their telepathic line. In her mind, he was bowing his head and turning from the room of her thoughts, but just before he did, she felt him stall at the very periphery of her conscious.

_It's going to be okay,_ he said, though she could run her mental fingers over the sound of the words and thought she felt a few rifts—small, but palpable—in his logic.

Alice gave him a quick nod. Edward left her thoughts completely, the only trace of him being the residue of his whispered words.

Both women sat up straight when they entered the driveway. Bella took a few deep breaths into the quiet, tapping her foot louder and pressing her hands between her seat and her thighs as Alice parked the car and took the keys out of the ignition. The vampire watched her lover suck her bottom lip into her mouth, worrying it between her teeth as she stared at the house and the golden light spilling out from inside.

"You're sure you want to do this?" Alice asked in a quiet voice. Bella jumped and turned, her eyes wide and her face sickly pale. "It's not too late to back out if you want to run away. I always kind of thought that that plan was a viable option."

For a moment, Bella seemed to consider it. She stared at Alice, unmoving, her expression unchanged, for the longest time. Her lip slipped back into place, pink and glistening, and Alice again felt the desire to reach over and comfort her love. Just as she made to move, though, Bella nodded and grabbed the door handle.

"Let's get it over with," she muttered, slipping out into the night and closing the door behind her.

Alice let her human love lead the way into the house. When they got to the door, Carlisle stood waiting for them, his sleeves rolled up and a calm smile on his face. The rest of the family was sitting in the living room, their own expressions drawn and their eyes pointed either at the floor or at the walls. Everyone looked up when they walked in, but Jasper was the only one who got to his feet. Alice smiled at him, but he only responded to her with a cursory glance. His attention, it seemed, had focused entirely on Bella.

_As well it should be,_ Alice startled herself by thinking.

Jasper inclined his head to the human girl. "Are you ready?" he asked, his voice low.

Bella twisted her fingers in front of herself, her eyes darting from him to the rest of the family, to Alice, and back. "No, but…I don't really have a choice, do I?"

"You always have a choice," Esme said from the other side of the room. The three of them turned to her, watching as she crossed over to where they stood and wrapped her arms around her waist. Even while her words suggested help, her face had a pained expression, her brow low over her eyes and her mouth twisted in a half-quirked, half-unsettled smile. "The problem here is that the options aren't the greatest."

Alice and Jasper both turned back to Bella. The human's mouth had dropped open as she listened, but when Esme finished, her lips closed up again. Alice could see some sort of resolve growing in her lover's eyes. It was enough to help her straighten her shoulders and nod.

"Then let's get this done," she said, almost echoing her words to Alice in the car.

"Very well," Carlisle said from behind them. He moved into sight, putting one arm around Bella as he gestured up the stairs. Both Jasper and Esme took a step back, but Alice kept as close to her lover as possible. The last thing she wanted was for her human friend to feel alone. Her father's eyes met hers. "Alice, I want you to take Bella up to the room I have designated for all this. There are some sheets lying on the floor of the study," he said and then turned to Bella.

"I assume you want Alice to turn you, but if you have any preference as to someone else, then that's completely your call."

The space of a breath passed between his words and Bella's reaction, but as soon as it was gone, the human girl shook her head hard. In front of her, she twisted her fingers until her knuckles turned white. "No, I want Alice to be the one to do it," she said, her voice cracking.

Carlisle held the human's gaze for a second too long before he nodded and stepped back. "That's just fine. Jasper? I want you to go upstairs and wait just outside the door. If anything happens, you can help control the mood in the room."

Alice put her arm around Bella's shoulders and felt a huge tremor race down her lover's body as Jasper held the human girl's eyes and offered a gentle smile. "It's going to be okay," Alice whispered into Bella's ear.

The human gave her a smile that shook hard enough to match the trembles in her body and part of Alice wondered why Jasper wasn't doing anything now.

It didn't matter when, a second later, they walked up the stairs to the room at the end of the hall. Alice hadn't been to many funerals, but this march felt as if they were attending their own, or at least sending Bella to her death.

_Which is what we're doing anyway,_ she berated herself. Alice could feel the eyes of her family watching from below, felt Edward try to touch her mind, but every time, she turned her face away, pressing her nose to Bella's hair, and avoided contact with the rest of them. She let herself be pulled to Bella's fear, to drown herself in it until it dragged her along and became the only thing she could feasibly consume herself with. If she wasn't feeling what her lover felt, then she'd never be able to understand how to help make the transition possible.

They reached the door to Alice's room, half-open to show them where a thick layer of sheets had been thrown on the ground around the bed, which had been stripped to only a pillow and a thin blanket to cover the mattress with. Everything else had, miraculously, been moved, and while part of Alice wanted to demand why they'd done this, the other part didn't care. Her things were out of the way and she had the space she'd need to help her lover transform. If anything, the minimalism was a nice change of pace. It almost matched the half of her brain that was shutting off to what was going on, which was very unlike the other, raging and tormented half sitting at the front of her mind.

"I'll be right here."

Jasper's voice made them both jump. With a grimace, Alice thanked him, trying not to let him see that she'd forgotten he was there. Fortunately, he kept his eyes on Bella, concern glowing from every line on his face, and he didn't question their reaction.

Taking a deep breath, Alice pressed a kiss to her lover's cool, sweating temple. "Let's go," she whispered, slipping into the room and closing the door behind them.


	11. Chapter 11

She hadn't turned around when she heard Bella sit on the bed. The vampire turned and found her lover stripping off her shirt with pale, shaking fingers, but when she moved over with a "let me help you with that," Bella shook her head and tore the shirt from her body, letting it fall on the ground. Her eyes were wide and white and she was breathing quickly, but it wasn't the way Alice would've liked. There was too much tension, too much fear, too much at stake and not nearly enough love or compassion or softness to melt the chills away.

_This isn't love, this is murder_, Alice told herself mentally through gritted teeth. When she reached out and touched Bella's shoulder, the human shivered and Alice could feel the heat in her lover's body melting away under her fingers.

Tipping her head, Bella watched Alice.

"S-should I tell you how this works?" the vampire asked. She couldn't help or hide the tremor in her voice, nor could she help being so obvious in her stalling methods.

But her lover shook her head and leaned forward, making her vast expanse of clear, free neck available to Alice's teeth. "I don't want to know. Just—"

Alice leaned forward and sank her teeth into Bella's shoulder, not giving her enough time to think or feel or react to what was happening. She wanted it to be as much of a surprise to the human as it was to her—and it seemed as if she'd succeeded.

There were a lot of things that Alice could anticipate about drinking from a loved one. Just like with any other human she'd drunk from in her past, she could press her lips to her lover's flesh and taste the soft, salty airiness of Bella's skin. Her bite drew blood, a hot, rich stream of heavy, sickly-sweet liquid that poured forth with such abandon. It was hard to resist and part of her wondered how she'd been able to withdraw when James had bitten Bella only a few months before.

She didn't anticipate the soft gasps, the soft moans, the soft whimpers. She didn't anticipate the rush, something she could usually get from animals and something that wasn't nearly as potent in wildlife as it was in humans. The deeper she drank, the closer Alice pulled her lady love, wrapping her arms around Bella's waist until their bodies were almost fused between their clothing. She felt Bella's fingers crawl up her back, felt her head fall forward, felt her mouth working against Alice's shoulder as she gasped and breathed and struggled against the pull of the vampire drinking. It wasn't her fault that she was trying to get away—this was the nature of every creature, Alice had learned over her time with blood consumption. Just like your body would force you to breathe if you'd forgotten to, your body would repel anything that was tainting or threatening your life.

After about ten seconds, though, there was a problem and Alice could feel it arising. The harder she drank, the harder it was to let go. In the very, very back of her mind, she knew that she'd need to pull away at some point. She could keep going up until the very second before she killed her lady love, but if she drew any deeper after that, she would threaten both her life and the undead life of the human girl in front of her. This knowledge rattled around in the back of her skull, poking at her shoulder and whispering its silver sounds into her ear, but she did her best to ignore it.

Bella began to buck against her, pressing her closer, and her moans grew quiet, but Alice held her steady. She tilted the human's head farther from her body until she had exclusive access to the angle of Bella's neck. Her pulls grew deeper and she found herself caught up in the whirl and swirl of the drink. It'd been so long since she'd tasted human blood and every slide of liquid over her tongue made her senses flower and explode, fireworks behind her eyelids and a hot, aching groan in her stomach that was part exquisite and part terribly, terribly painful.

_Take control, Alice._

The sound of Edward's voice in the back of her mind jolted her from her half-dazed drunkenness. It startled her so much that she released Bella from the hold of her lips and looked up, around, trying to figure out where it was coming from. Not a second after, she remembered.

Looking down at the limp figure in her arms, she studied Bella with an odd curiosity. Something was off about the way she was just lying there, but she couldn't figure out what it was. The human's arms still wrapped around her shoulders, but there was no grip and her lungs only breathed with the most shallow of breath, her eyes fluttering softly against glistening eyes and the deep shadows pressed to her skin.

Panic seized Alice. She couldn't remember what she'd done, only that she was still high off the taste of human blood and endorphins and a hunt that wasn't a hunt at all. The tremors from before made their way back into her arms and torso and she found herself shaking Bella's limp body, trying to will her lover into life again.

"Carlisle!" she called, dragging the word out with her fear.

She'd hardly spoken when the door opened behind her and her father and Jasper spilled into the room. The former flew to their side, but the latter held back, pressing his hand to his nose and staring at the half-dead body of Alice's girlfriend with wide eyes, as if he'd never seen her outside of his dreams and suddenly she'd manifested herself in front of him in real time. Part of Alice knew she ought to feel guilty and ashamed and embarrassed for them to see her and her lover like this—they were so exposed in their nakedness, Alice so uncertain and Bella literally half-dressed—but her panic seized her again and she turned, teary-eyed, to her father.

"I don't know what to do!" she said, her breathing ragged. "I've never done this much before."

Carlisle sat on the bed and took Alice's wrist without another word. He pressed it to his daughter's mouth, staring her in the eye with such serious determination that she wanted to laugh, despite the tears falling down her cheeks.

"You're stronger than the blood, Alice. You remember what to do. It involves an exchange," he said, his voice low and calm and cutting through the fog that had developed in Alice's mind.

Even though she still wasn't certain, she felt things coming back to her, knowledge about what to do and how to do it. She still hadn't actually done anything like this, but she remembered them telling her, remembered why she'd needed to know—in case something ever happened and she panicked and couldn't understand how to stop something. She remembered the precautions, remembered her parents—Carlisle and Esme—teaching them all how to transform a body. Just in case, they'd said. Just in case. It's always something you'll need to know.

Carlisle stood from the bed as Alice bit her own wrist and pressed the trickling wound to her lover's lips. The fear that had fluttered in her chest so vehemently and so bat-like began to subside as Bella's lashes fluttered and her mouth worked against the wound. After another minute, the once-human girl sat up a bit more, her arms starting to work again and feeling out Alice's hands. She watched with relieved happiness as Bella pressed herself to Alice's wrist, drinking greedily and heavily, her hot, hard mouth demanding more. Feeling like a mother nursing successfully for the first time, Alice began to cry again, more tears of joy and love and happiness slipping down her cheeks and falling onto Bella's exposed stomach with a small pat-pat-pat.

"I love you," she whispered as she watched her lover consume. Alice stroked Bella's side with the hand that was cradling the once-human girl as the newborn finished feeding and whimpered when the vampire took her wrist away.


	12. Chapter 12

For a long time, Bella just lay very still after she finished feeding. Alice set her down on the bed and backed up a step, filling her eyes with the sight of her lover. The once-human girl didn't seem to be changed all that much—she still had the fullness to her body, the softness to her cheeks and stomach and breasts, the tender shadows beneath her eyes, and the sleekness of her hair, something she'd had no ability to recognize in herself when she'd been awake and alive.

When nothing continued to happen, Alice glanced over her shoulder at her father. Carlisle had his hands on his hips and a deep, hard frown on his face. Sensing the question in his daughter's eyes, he put a finger to his lips and then pointed to the once-human girl again.

"I would sit with her," he said, his voice lower than a whisper so as not to disturb their patient. "When she wakes up, the transition will be a big adjustment to make."

Alice nodded quickly and then resumed her spot at the end of the bed. Just as she was making herself comfortable, she saw it begin. The scant light from the hallway where it spilled into the half-open door revealed the rapid rise-and-fall of the once-human's breast as she breathed heavily. She watched the line of Bella's jaw grow tense, her throat working as she tried to swallow over and over again, a feverish movement. The once-human's hands clenched tight, then unclenched a fraction, and then clenched up again until her knuckles shone through and her fingers cracked.

A long, high, keening whine escaped from Bella's lips and the once-human rolled to her side as she gritted her teeth. Under their steady gazes, they watched the once-human's body curl into the fetal position, squeezing herself tighter and tighter until Alice was certain that Bella would've broken her own bones trying to make herself as small as possible in the middle of the bed.

"Carlisle?" she whispered to her father from over her shoulder. His only response was to touch her back. If she'd had a pulse, it would've been racing. She couldn't tear her eyes away from her lover—the sight was too disconcerting to turn back from. Bella's body twitched and her breathing grew harsh and her limbs spasmed and Alice felt herself wanting to reach out and hold her once-human girl. She couldn't remember the time when she went from being a human to being a vampire—she couldn't remember the pain. It was such a long time ago and her memories had long-since mulled them over until they became part of the landscape that was her current life.

Watching Bella suffering in almost-complete silence, she wondered if that would be the same for her once-human love, or if she would remember. Maybe she would recall the spotty details, or maybe everything would stick to her mind like a high-definition photograph printed to fill a wall in a living room or an art gallery. She couldn't begin to guess, though.

The breaths hissing from Bella's mouth grew softer and her tension gradually eased until, with a few cracks in her joints, the once-human girl rolled onto her back again and relaxed on the bed. Almost instantly, Alice could see the change. She watched her human lover go from homely to radiant, with a sleekness to her hair that wasn't there before and a glow to her body that, while present and alive in her mortal life, now extended into her skin as if she was containing a piece of the sun itself. Not much more changed, but that, until Alice leaned over in such a way that the light from the hallway shone in. As it did, it landed on Bella's skin and the subtle shine of glitter that every vampire in their world had sparkled through.

Relief filled Alice's chest and she gave a small laugh, not loud enough to wake her lover, but just enough that her father and ex-husband would hear it. She felt the tension in her shoulders relaxing the way Bella's had done when she'd laid back on the bed. It felt like the worst was over—they'd exchanged blood, and while that made Alice extremely dizzy and hungry and tired, they'd gotten through the hardest part. Bella would be saved from the wrath of the Volturi and their family would be able to go living in peace once again. Sure, they still had a lot of work ahead of them, what with training a second newborn, but they were up for that. They'd gotten this far, hadn't they? Pulling herself out of her retrospection, the vampire turned to study her once-human lover again.

If Alice had been human, the transformation would've been almost invisible. She would've looked at Bella and thought there was something off—something other-worldly about her friend, but other than that, nothing. It would've been like looking at her through a gauzy curtain that you couldn't be sure even existed. It would've been like trying to determine the existence of fairies, of another world that, if you only lifted the plane of existence in just such a way, you would be able to see what she saw. She wasn't good at explaining this, though, and she wouldn't have been able to if she tried. Regardless, the sight of her transformed once-human lover took Alice's useless breaths away.

"Bella?" she whispered, trying to help her excitement as she leaned over her friend. Behind her, she felt her father and Jasper come a step closer, but she didn't feel any excitement from them. Instead, they carried a shared tension that made Alice nervous.

Gradually, with the speed of a butterfly taking flight in slow-motion, Bella's eyes fluttered open and her bright crimson eyes met Alice's. Then, all hell broke loose.


	13. Chapter 13

"What the hell?" Bella whispered as she looked around. Her wide eyes grew even wider as she stared at the walls, the ceiling, and then Alice's face. Much to the older vampire's chagrin, instead of glee and happiness at the transformation, she could feel alarm running through her newborn's body.

As Alice went to speak, Bella leapt from her arms with the speed of a bullet, throwing herself back against the bed and watching the three elder vampires with fast-roving eyes.

"Why do I hurt so much?" Bella demanded and for the first time, Alice noticed just how much the once-human girl was shaking. The newborn's breaths heaved and her eyes shone brighter. It took Alice a second, but she finally understood that her lover was trying to cry and couldn't. "What's wrong with me?" Bella screamed, pulling Alice's attention back to the problem at hand.

"Carlisle," the clairvoyant said. She stood up and backed her way to the door, her eyes on her lover. From the corner of her eye, she watched her father step forward until he was standing in front of everyone, approaching the newborn Bella with all the gentleness and ease of a teacher coming to comfort a frightened child.

Bella stared at him while her legs and arms shook. Alice could see the line of her jaw hardening as she clenched her teeth together, saw the curling of her fingers as the newborn grasped for the wall. She seemed to be frightened of Carlisle, who continued moving towards her until the newborn had backed herself up so far that she was nearly standing on top of the headboard.

"Carlisle, stop walking, she's frightened!" Alice called to her father. The sound pulled Bella's attention to her, but her father stopped walking. With the newborn's eyes firmly on her face, Alice looked back at the newborn, trying to make her expression as neutral as possible. "Bella, we know it hurts. You've just been turned. You're hungry…and half naked," she muttered, nodding at the newborn's bare stomach. She'd tried not to think about it—tried not to see her lover in only her underthings—but the distraction was too much and it was negating the fearsomeness of the newborn vampire in her eyes.

Bella's shining eyes still watched Alice, but she shook her head and flinched when Carlisle took a step closer. "This isn't how it was supposed to be," the once-human girl whispered. The sound was so heartbreaking that it sent a shockwave through Alice's body and she wished, more than anything, that she could take the pain away.

Right as the sentiment hit her, she turned to her ex-husband. "Jasper," she whispered, trying to keep her voice so low that the newborn wouldn't hear her. It was a long-shot, but she figured it was worth the try.

Jasper glanced at her and she could see the lines of his body straining to keep themselves focused, to keep him in the same room and endure what was happening. When he caught Alice's eye, he nodded and started forward the way their father had.

"Something's gone wrong!" Bella was screaming during the entire exchange. If she could've cried, there would've been tears streaming down her face. Alice wondered how aware she was of what her fellows were doing as she turned to Carlisle and pleaded with him from the top of the headboard. "Please, you need to understand. Something's gone wrong. I don't feel good. I feel like I'm going to throw up. I feel like I'm dying, like I'm on fire."

"That's all perfectly normal," Carlisle tried to assure her as Jasper eased himself forward. Alice could feel his powers working, a calm wave of feeling settling into the room around them like a fog that crept and crawled towards their newborn friend. Meanwhile, their father extended a hand. "Come on down. I can explain everything."

Pressing her lips together, Bella shook her head vehemently. "I don't think you can. I don't think you understand," she said. Without warning, her expression slackened and her shoulders relaxed. A small smile came over her face as they watched her begin to ease herself onto the headboard to come down, but once her eyes landed on Jasper, the smile disappeared again and she shot upright, clinging to the wall as if to erase the movements she'd made.

"Stop it!" she screamed at him. It shook her entire body and the sound filled the room, pushing them all back a step. "Stop it! Stop trying to touch me!"

With a long, shaky breath, she dove from the headboard and crashed into Jasper. They fell to the ground, hitting the floor with a crash. It erased the wave of calm that was mired around their feet and Alice had to stumble back in order to keep herself from getting caught in the middle of it. With eyes widened in horror, she watched for a good three long seconds as her lover and her ex-husband battled, a frenzy half-covered by the curtain of Bella's hair. Jasper held the newborn's wrists, but she was kicking him and snarling and biting and it was only when Carlisle touched Alice's arm that she came out of it again.

"Get outside before she hurts you, too," he muttered, moving towards the two vampires without paying the clairvoyant a passing glance.

Alice stared at the two vampires struggling on the ground, a longing to comfort her lover rising up in her chest. Once Carlisle turned, sensing her still there, he called, "Alice!" and snapped her out of her funk.

Taking one last lingering glance at the two on the ground, she stepped outside and closed the door behind her. She didn't realize her whole body was shaking until she watched her hand holding the door handle. With the door between her and the action, everything in the room felt muffled and strained and separate. She put her hand to the door, but something thumped against it nearly as soon as she did, and she withdrew her fingers, her useless breaths catching in her lungs.

"What happened?"

Startling, Alice turned and glanced over the balcony to see the bulk of her family and Bree watching from the living room. When the corner's of Alice's lips turned down in a long frown, preparing her to cry tears she couldn't shed, Esme's mouth dropped open.

"Oh honey," she whispered. The elder vampire flew up the stairs and made it just in time to hold Alice as she sank to her knees on the carpet. Esme's soft arms cradled the clairvoyant's shoulders, rocking her from side-to-side and smoothing a hand over Alice's hair as she whispered sweet words over her daughter's head.

"This isn't how I thought it would be," Alice whispered, covering her mouth with her hand. She couldn't stop listening to the confrontation on the other side of the door.


	14. Chapter 14

It was almost two hours later that Carlisle emerged from Alice's stripped bedroom and joined his wife and daughter in the hallway. The clairvoyant had sat there counting the seconds while her mother held her, shifting every so often so that they could remain seated together. The light in the living room remained a steady golden glow that trickled down onto them, but everyone had long since taken to another part of the house. None of them had ventured upstairs and Alice was glad. There was a silent understanding amongst the family that whatever was going on upstairs was for Alice and those involved alone. Anything else would have to wait until things were taken care of.

When she heard the sound of the door opening, Alice startled. She lifted her head and almost leapt from her place when she saw Carlisle emerging, rubbing his hands together and giving them all a wan smile. When she tried to look past him into the room beyond, he simply closed the door. She thought she caught sight of Jasper, back bent and the belt on his pants visible as he crouched, but the look was so fleeting that she couldn't be sure.

"How is she?" Esme asked so that Alice didn't have to.

The question caught Alice's attention and the clairvoyant turned to her father. She caught him in mid-sigh, watching as he released the breath quickly.

"She's good. She's better than when she first turned. Jasper has her somewhat sedated." He gestured to the door.

Alice blanched. "So, what? What does that mean? Is she going to be okay? Is she going to be like this forever?" she asked. The clairvoyant could feel her own hysteria rising in her voice, but she couldn't curb it and she wasn't sure if she wanted to. As her concern rose, so did she rise to her feet, stopping only when her father put a hand on her shoulder. The gesture felt like something he might do to a small child who was becoming overly anxious and about to get themselves upset. Recognizing this within her actions, Alice sat back down and clamped her lips shut as tight as she could so that nothing else remotely close to whining could slip from her tongue.

"She's going to be fine," Carlisle said, looking her dead in the eye so that she had no choice but to meet his gaze. If Jasper hadn't been the emotional heart of the family, Alice knew her father would've been. His stare was so intense and so calming that she felt the tension leave her body almost immediately. "She's having a rough transition, that's all. It's normal for newborns to react like this."

"Did I?" Alice asked after a second, her voice so small that it was almost incomprehensible.

Carlisle watched her for a long time before he shook his head. "I'm not sure. I wasn't the one who changed you and there's no way to get into contact with the person who did. But," he said, catching her face as it turned towards the floor, "that doesn't mean this lasts forever. It's been a long time since we've brought a newborn into our family."

"Um," Esme whispered from behind Alice's shoulder.

Carlisle made a face. "I mean aside from Bree," he said and turned back to Alice. "Jasper's going to stay with each of them right now. Bella's just confused. She's transitioning well, but psychologically, being a vampire takes a toll on anyone. For a few weeks at least, she's going to be hungry and tired and probably irritable. That's completely normal. We just need to be here to support her while she adjusts to her new life."

Alice nodded, her attention falling to the carpet beneath her. She turned this information over in her head and as she did, a thousand questions popped to mind. Before she had a chance to ask any of them, though, she had one in particular. "What are the Volturi going to say?"

She heard her father sigh again and then sit on the ground in front of her, folding his legs the way his wife had. "I'm not sure. They might just go home. I think they're going to get some kind of grim pleasure from knowing that we have a newborn on our hands."

"Another newborn," Esme corrected him. This time, Carlisle just nodded.

Alice motioned to the door. "Is Jasper going to need to stay with her the entire time she's transitioning? Do we need to take shifts?"

Her father smiled. The sight was so easy that it lifted her spirits a bit and a bubble of hope formed in her chest. "I think you're probably the next best person to go in and see her. She's been muttering about you, about where you've gone. Once she grew quiet, she asked if she could see you and we told her that she needed to rest first." He scratched behind his ear. "She's going to be hungry when she gets up, though, so maybe we could get her something to eat first. My guess is that she'll be craving human blood for a while, but if we start her off by weaning her onto animal blood, she won't have a chance to develop a taste for anything else."

"Okay," Alice whispered. She folded her hands in her lap, running the pad of her thumb over her knuckles, until her father reached over and covered her hands with his.

"You can see her in a few hours. For now, let's get her something to eat when she wakes up and you can bring that to her when you visit."

Alice nodded. Standing, she followed her parents to the end of the hallway, falling behind as she watched her bedroom door. Behind there, Jasper and her lover were sitting—one sleeping, one playing monitor—and she thought she could almost see them through the wood. Part of her longed to go and relieve him, to sit with her once-human darling. The other part pressed her forward until she was walking down the stairs and thinking up the next meal she'd be serving to Bella with all the hopes that it would end well.


	15. Chapter 15

The hunt went quickly and without embellishments. Alice moved faster than the rest of the group, even outrunning Edward, who usually took over the chase while the others, with the exception of Jasper, fanned out and backed him up. This time, he fell out as Alice charged in, her pixie feet flying over the greenery and the hills behind their home. She led them out, far away from Forks, and into the wilds of the woods so that nothing they would catch would be found by park rangers. As she ran, she could feel Edward tugging at the back of her mind, trying to talk to her, but not wanting to get involved to a degree where she would snap at him for interrupting her work. When a few minutes passed of him trying to reach her on and off unsuccessfully, she felt him fade from her mind, just as the rest of her family fell to the wayside in their run, and smiled a little bit to herself. She was all alone on the hunt and she didn't mind it.

When the event was over, she'd wrestled down a bear and had them bring it back with her in small water bottles. They drank greedily, clapping Alice on the shoulders and congratulating her on her kill, but she only watched the blood she was given.

"Don't give her the whole bear," Carlisle warned to Alice when they'd filled four bottles and Alice was reaching for a fifth. She gave him a look, but he only returned it with a sad smile. "She's going to glut herself and keel over if she drinks too much too quickly. Yes, Bella's going to be ravenous, but that doesn't mean she needs to overwhelm her senses in order to slake her thirst."

"Understood," Alice whispered, her fingers lingering over the caps on the water bottles. Instead, the fifth was filled for Jasper and they all trekked back to the house.

The clairvoyant carried the bottles into the room in a rectangular tray, knocking softly so that she wouldn't start anyone, but she could enter the room with total discretion. Inside, the sight stalled her.

Her bed had been torn to pieces. Parts of the mattress were flung to either side of the room, with feathers and fluff and stuffing and long metal springs tossed too the carpet. What little stuffing was left was occupied by Jasper and Bella. The former had a congenial look to his face, his legs crossed and a kind smile offering itself to Alice as she observed the room. The latter…was worse for wear. Bella had dark shadows under her eyes and a clear droop to her head, but her arms were fastened to the headboard with knotted sheets and she had cuts all across her stomach.

"What did you do?" Alice whispered, stunned. She couldn't stop staring at her lover, couldn't quite contain the horror that was filling her gut.

Jasper rose and she felt a wave of calm come over her. "Alice, listen to me—"

"No!" she snapped, shaking her head and backing out of the calm he was sending across her head. When she turned her attention onto him, she could see how much it was hurting him to do this to her—though whether it was regret for Alice or Bella, she didn't know. It began to sway her, but she took another look at her lover and all forgiveness left her mind. "You've—you've strapped her to the bed? You've given her bruises and cuts? What kind of help is this going to be? How's she's going to recover from that?"

"Alice," Jasper said in a harder voice. She turned to him again and he took her by her shoulders. Part of her wanted to pull away, but he wasn't trying to send calm waves anymore, so she relaxed. "She did that to herself. When she tried to fight us, when she broke the mattress and flung about the room, she did that to herself. Look, I know it sounds strange, but it's true. She retained some clarity of mind when she transformed. It's not the way most newborns are, but this time, she was able to hold onto it and she was using it against us. She cut herself to make us feel bad, and when we didn't, she got angry again. We had to tie her down so that she wouldn't injure herself again. Bella will heal," he added before Alice could speak again. "She's newborn. The process will be so fast that we won't even see it coming. Once she has blood, it'll be fine."

The clairvoyant clenched her jaw, but nodded and handed him a water bottle. "Here. Spoils from the hunt," she muttered, still not happy over the news about her lover.

"Thank you," Jasper whispered, taking the bottle with a slight bow to his head.

"I'll sit with her now," Alice said. Her ex just nodded again and moved out of the room. "Thank you—for everything," she called right before the door closed.

Jasper poked his head back into the room and gave her a small smile. "You're very welcome, ma'am," he whispered.

Alice moved onto the bed and set the bottles to her side. With a closer inspection, she could see how shallow the cuts on Bella's stomach were. Reaching out, she brushed her fingers across them, soft as feathers, but a hissing of breath made her jump.

Bella blinked awake, exhaling through her nose. When she caught Alice's eye, she smiled a little.

The sight thrilled Alice and the clairvoyant leaned closer. "Hey," she whispered.

"Hey," Bella whispered back, laughing a little. "I missed you."

Feeling her heart tearing itself into pieces, Alice could've cried. "I've missed you, too," she said and kissed her lover deeply. The taste of blood still lingered in the cracks of Bella's lips, but there was softness, too, and love there. Part of her jumped for joy, and another wished this part of the whole journey was over. When she felt her lover's teeth graze her lips playfully, Alice leaned in and responded in kind until they were both left breathless, their eyes shining as they looked at each other.

Leaning over, Alice picked up the first bottle. "You ready to eat?" she asked and then laughed when Bella's eyes glowed.

"Am I ever!" she said.


	16. Chapter 16

"You're surprisingly calm right now," Alice said while she watched Bella consume half the water bottle.

Bella choked and then laughed, shaking her head as she put the container back down. "Carlisle has me sedated."

"What?!" Alice snapped, but Bella patted her hand.

"He says it's for my own protection. He and Jasper wanted to talk to me, but this was the only way to do it without me injuring myself and losing control."

Alice blinked at her lover, trying to think of how this all tied together and what she could possibly say next. "So…you're not actually in control? I'm just dreaming this?" she asked, gesturing to Bella's body.

The newborn shook her head and took the clairvoyant's hand. Even a simple touch like Bella's fingers around her own set Alice back to rights and she could feel herself breathing a little easier. Gripping her lover's fingers hard, Alice lifted them for a kiss. "I'm lucid right now. I've been fairly lucid this whole time. But there are some things I can't control. My hunger is apparently one of them," Bella said, grimacing at the bottle before taking another deep swig. "Carlisle says my strength is going to be off the charts, but that that's not something he's worried about for now."

Alice gave her a half-laugh, one that only took a little air to produce and that was laced with as much sarcasm as she could muster. "Considering you've injured yourself and he felt the need to sedate you, I'm pretty sure he's lying."

The newborn nodded. Deep down, Alice could feel them trembling a little. "Yeah, me too." Bella bit her lip and looked around the room. As she studied the mess, her fingers kept trembling. It occurred to Alice that her lover hadn't really seen the amount of destruction she'd created, and that, observing it now, she was just beginning to take it in. Under Alice's watchful gaze, Bella's eyes began to swim and her face—pale and plain and still glowing with that inward radiance that Alice had identified such a short time earlier—began to pucker, even grow rosy, around her cheeks and nose.

"I did this," Bella whispered. "I ruined your room." She turned back to Alice, who found herself surprised by the hugeness of her lover's eyes and the amount of regret in them. Despite how red they looked and how far gone Carlisle obviously believed Alice's lover to be, the clairvoyant couldn't help but see the girl she'd fallen in love with staring out at her and wanting to express how much she wanted to make things better.

"It's just a room," Alice whispered, leaning so close that she could see the tiny veins of color in Bella's eyes. They sat only a breath apart, their noses barely touching and their hands clasped between them. "It's only a thing. It's not you. You're the one I'm worried about." She traced her finger over one of Bella's scars and tried to smile as she watched the muscles beneath twitch against the touch. "You're the one I don't want to see hurt."

While Alice traced the scars, Bella caught her lover's hand. Alice watched her lover bring it to her lips and place long, soft kisses across the knuckles. The touch felt like heaven, a soft brush and breath and sweep to the next digit. Just as Bella was about to turn Alice's hand over to continue kissing Alice's palm, the clairvoyant leaned in and pressed her mouth against the newborn's. Their second kiss lasted longer, lingering and quiet and gentle. She cupped Bella's head with her hands to hold the woman still and Bella sat forward, meeting Alice's mouth with as much force as she was given.

"You won't let me get hurt," Bella whispered when she broke the kiss and leaned back. Her chest heaved with a great breath as she picked up the second water bottle. Alice's eyes held hers while she drank and then stuck the bottle on the bedside table. "I know you too well for that."

It was a determination Alice hoped she could live up to.

Carlisle wouldn't let Bella off the hook of the bedroom for a week. He kept her sedated, but in increasingly smaller doses, so that she could regain control on her own. The darker part of Alice wondered if this was just one of her father's science experiments and she started to question it while she watched Carlisle put the needle into Bella's arm. As she opened her mouth, though, she felt Bella's hand on hers.

"Don't," her lover warned. There was a small gleam in Bella's eye, but Alice knew the look was meant to be more serious than she was giving it credit for.

"Don't you just feel like a Frankenstein monster sometimes?" Alice asked when her father had finished and gone downstairs. Even with the space, she hoped he couldn't still hear her.

"Carlisle is going the best he can," Bella promised her and then laughed. "I can't believe I'm the one who has to convince you of your own father's good deeds. He's not the Volturi, you know."

The clairvoyant pursed her lips and watched as Bella pulled a fresh shirt over her shoulders. She couldn't defeat her lover's logic. The Guard themselves were still in the area, prepared to make another appearance within a week, and Carlisle wanted to be ready. That was his reasoning for sedating Bella to such a degree. He wouldn't let her go out for kills, but she could walk around now, though Jasper wasn't meant to leave the house until Carlisle gave Bella the go-ahead for being almost completely in control again. When Alice had pressed him to know when that would be, he'd just sighed and shook his head.

"It's a long process. We can't know for certain," he said. That hadn't been good enough for Alice, but what other choice did she have? She didn't want to rebel against doctor's orders, so she decided to join them, if only to keep an eye on what her father and her lover were conspiring to do. If her dad gave Bella something else for her control, Alice would be in the know about it. If Bella started losing control, then Alice would be there.

"We'll start training in the morning," he finally declared one night while Alice and Bella were in the library. They looked up from the history books they'd been pouring over about vampire lore to see him standing in the doorway, wiping his hands on a dishcloth. "The Volturi will be here at the end of the week, so that should give us enough time to get prepared."

"You sound so sure," Alice said, trying to hide the surprise in her voice and failing. Bella gave her a light slap on the arm for her cheek.

Her father just shook his head. "I'm not. They want to go home, though, and they want to see the progress Jasper's made with Bree. We might as well kill two birds with one stone."

Nodding, the vampire women went back to their books, but Alice scooted closer to her lover so that they could sit back-to-back and feel one another breathing.


	17. Chapter 17

Training took longer than Alice had expected. She and Jasper brought Bella into the garage, which had been emptied of cars for the purpose of their practicing. Courtesy of Emmett, the walls and work bench were hidden behind long, standing gym mats that had a bit of a cushion to them. If they fell, the floor wouldn't be as forgiving, but neither Jasper nor Carlisle was worried that something so bad would happen.

Standing at either ends, Jasper wanted to test her control. He swept the entire room with a wave of calm, something he claimed to be similar to the sedatives that Carlisle was giving their newborn. When he was certain that Bella wasn't going to hurt anyone, he would have Alice reveal a can of blood, one that stayed as far away from Bella as they could possibly keep it. The point of the exercise, he told there shocked faces, was to ensure that Bella wouldn't attack anyone when she was walking down the street.

"And what if I'm not in control enough?" the newborn Bella asked, eyeing their instructor.

Jasper shrugged. "Then we keep at it until we can make sure you are."

Bella bit her lip and turned to Alice. "I want Carlisle to sedate me again," she said. When she started to walk to the door, both Alice and Jasper reached out to stop her. Their hands connected in the middle of their little bridge of arms and Alice felt a small tingle shoot through her fingers. Gasping, she glanced at Jasper. His eyes had gone wide themselves, but he turned his face away as soon as her gaze caught his. Bella just gave them each a dirty look.

"We can't use Carlisle's sedation for this experiment," Jasper said, in the kindest and most teacherly voice Alice had ever heard apart from when he'd been training them to fight other vampires. With it, you'll be at a disadvantage. You want to be able to control yourself in any situation. The idea is to help you learn how to resist the pull of blood for long enough that you can get about and do your daily activities."

Again, Bella made a face. "I'm not sure it's possible."

He just laughed. "We're proof that it is." Taking her by the shoulders, Jasper looked deep into the newborn's eyes. The sight melted Alice's heart and at that moment, she wanted nothing more than to throw her arms around her ex-husband, thanking him for the kindness he was showing to her lover and for helping them.

_It will have to wait,_ she told herself.

"I know what you're going through," Jasper was saying to Bella, his voice low and sweet. "I thought I'd never get myself weaned off of human blood and I'd been living with it for most of my vampire life. You're at such a great advantage, with a whole coven of other, vegetarian vampires to model yourself off of and to go to if you have any questions. Also, Carlisle made sure you weren't drinking human blood when you came into this life, so you don't even have a taste for it to long for.

"So far, you're one of the stronger newborns I've ever encountered," he added, standing up and dropping his hands from her shoulders. "I don't mean just physically, but also because you're doing so much better than any other one right now. Right this minute. I'm sure that's got to count for something."

"But if I haven't even drunk human blood, then how do we know this will work on me out with humans?" she asked, the pained expression not leaving her face. "I mean, that's animal blood, right? So I'll learn not to kill puppies when they walk down the street. What about humans?"

Alice's jaw dropped open. "Oh my god, she has a point," she said, covering her mouth with her hand. "What are we going to do about that?"

Jasper just shook his head. "I'm sure it won't be a problem. We can test some strength training against it, but I don't think we need to worry just yet. Right now, the Volturi are the ones we need to gain control enough to see." He studied Bella. "How are you feeling? Hungry?"

She shrugged. "I'm always hungry."

"Is it burning?"

She thought about it. "Getting there, I think."

Jasper stepped back and took up position at his side of the garage. "That's fine. We'll start and use it as much as we can. If things get dangerous, Alice," he said, nodding to the clairvoyant while she took up positions across from him. He didn't even need to finish the sentence. She knew where he was going.

As they stationed themselves and he prepared to tell her to reveal the blood, Alice flashed back to the night of the transformation. She remembered drinking human blood and the succulence of the taste, remembered wondering if she herself was going to lose control over her inhibitions. When a few days had gone by, she hadn't told anyone how her mouth had watered continuously at the thought. The urge to drink hadn't died completely, as Carlisle told her it might after years of drinking animal blood. He'd been so sure, so ready to bring her and Jasper in that he'd told them almost anything. She wondered if this was going to come back to bite them in the ass.

Glancing up, she watched Bella settle herself in position.

Jasper raised his hand, giving Alice the signal. Leaning down, Alice popped the cap off the water bottle full of blood where it stood behind her.

In such a tiny space of time, Alice had almost forgotten how fast Bella could move now. She barely stood up in time to block the newborn, who had crossed the distance nearly the minute the cap had touched the floor. Bella's teeth were bared and her eyes flashed and she pushed Alice so hard that the clairvoyant's heels slid backwards to touch the cushioned wall.

"Jasper!" Alice called, holding her forearms between her face and Bella's hands as they scratched and pulled and tried to pry the blood away from behind them.

"Bella, try to gain control!" he called from his end of the room.

When Bella didn't seem to hear him, much less give up, Alice wanted to cry. She pressed her lover backwards a bit, but the newborn only responded by driving her force harder into Alice's and the clairvoyant slid back again.

"Jasper!" she called. "Jasper, please!"


	18. Chapter 18

Bella lunged towards Alice just as Jasper was reaching her. With a snarl, the newborn turned and started batting him away, but his hands had a tight, firm hold on her waist. Lifting her off, Jasper dragged the screeching girl into the middle of the garage so that Alice could fall back against the padded mat and breathe. If her heart had been working, it would've fluttered so quickly that she might've fainted. As it was, she pressed a hand to her chest and stared, open-mouthed, at her lover. Her disbelief was so great at the change in Bella's tone that when she saw the newborn girl's expression going from angry to guilty in a matter of seconds, she wasn't sure she believed it.

"Alice!" Jasper called when Bella attempted to break away again. One of his hands slipped from her waist and he held on tight with the other. The newborn began dragging him along, her sights set on the bottle of blood. "Close the water bottle!"

Swallowing hard, Alice turned around and slammed the cap closed. With the scent of animal leaving the room and the lure of blood dissipating from the air, Bella's feet slowed. The full impact of what was going on—her fighting Jasper, her attacking Alice, her craving the blood in the room as if it was the last thing on earth—seemed to hit her and she looked all around, her jaw falling open.

"Oh my god," she whispered when she caught sight of Jasper where he was still clinging to her shirt. Bella covered her mouth with her hands and fell to the floor beside him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "Oh my god. Jasper, I'm so sorry."

Alice thought she could hear tears in her lover's voice. Once she started to relax, she began to walk over to where Bella was embracing her ex. Jasper glanced up and caught Alice's eye but then resumed patting the newborn's back. The clairvoyant didn't want to think about what significance lingered in his gaze.

"It's all right," he whispered, but he sounded winded. The whole endeavor had left the lot of them shaking and turning to one another with sorrow-filled eyes.

Letting go of Jasper, Bella turned to Alice. Her cheeks and nose had become bright red and she was no less powerful when she ran and jumped into Alice's arms than she'd been when she and Alice had fought only seconds ago.

"I'm so sorry," the newborn breathed into Alice's hair. "I didn't realize what I was doing. I—I just saw the blood and the smell was overwhelming, and—"

"Sh," Alice whispered, shaking her head and stroking her lover's back. She and Jasper watched ear other over Bella's shoulder, but she didn't want to mention the hurt in his eyes, nor did she want to acknowledge the fact that he seemed so uncertain. "You're fine. You didn't hurt me. See?" she said, standing back and holding out her arms. "See, I'm okay."

If Bella could've been really crying, she would've been sobbing. Alice imagined thick tears covering her cheeks and wetting her lashes, reddening the whites of her eyes to match her irises. The newborn just shook her head vehemently.

"I say we go again," Jasper muttered when Bella leaned in for another embrace from Alice. The sound of his words stopped them both in their tracks and they turned to him, Bella with shock and Alice with uncertainty.

"Are you insane?" the newborn demanded, starting towards him.

"Bella—"

"I almost killed you!" she snarled. "I almost killed Alice. And now you want to do that all again? Clearly I'm not as "in control" as you and Carlisle seem to think I am. And what will happen if I'm set loose, huh? If we do this again, I'm not sure how "in control" I'm going to be. Obviously I couldn't control myself last time."

Jasper shook his head, his expression hard and the hands on his hips unmoving. "Each event is different from the last—"

"Even still, who's to say it won't be harder for me to control this time?"

He started to speak again, but she threw up her hands.

"No, Jasper. I'm not going to endanger you like that. Remember what Carlisle said before I turned? He said I'd be stronger than you. What if I hurt you?"

"You're not going to—"

"You can't know that!"

"Alice?" he asked, glancing over her shoulder. Bella turned around, her eyes wide and confused when they looked from her lover to Jasper and back again. "Back me up on this?"

The clairvoyant felt a tugging sensation that she hadn't felt in years. Part of her wanted to back her ex-husband, who was saying things she believed in and knew would only help to make their job easier. When she looked at Bella's eyes, though, she could see the same fear there that she'd seen when she'd led the girl to be turned when she was human. Taking a deep breath, Alice stepped towards both of them.

A lock clicked and the garage door opened. Bree's head popped in from around the side, her long fingers grasping the doorframe. "Is Jasper in here with you?" she asked, her small voice echoing through the empty chamber.

Jasper sighed. "Bree, remember what I told you? During this hour. You're not supposed to disturb me. If any of us had been working, you could've gotten hurt. We're having a session—"

"No, we're not," Bella muttered. She threw him a dark look and then skipped from the room. "I'm not going to be in here hurting you people. I'm going to get another sedative from Carlisle. This is useless."

"Bella!" Alice called, but she'd already disappeared. Heavy-heartedness filled her chest as a thousand words for something better to say tried to make their way to her mouth at once. She turned each of them down. "I'd better go after her," she said at last, starting out of the room.

Bree turned to them. "Can we have our practice now?" she asked Jasper.


	19. Chapter 19

Alice searched the entire house before she found Bella and Carlisle in his room. Bella had taken up a position at the end of his bed and was watching their foster father go through his medical kit, pulling out bottles that glistened in the light and bore labels Alice could neither read nor understand. The clairvoyant hovered in the shadows up until her father stuck the needle into the top of one of the bottles, and then she entered the room.

"You're really going to do this for her?" she asked, only meeting her father's eyes when he looked over at her. She could see Bella start to make a face.

"Alice—"

But the clairvoyant threw up a hand, blocking her lover from sight so that she would only give Carlisle her attention. "I thought the plan was to help her gain control on her own, without sedatives?"

Her father sighed, his shoulders dropping a bit, and he looked between them. "Put your hand down. You're being rude," he said as he moved to Bella's outstretched arm, the needle poised.

Alice darted between them. She latched onto Bella's arm and pushed it down so that her father couldn't touch it.

"This is my choice, Alice," Bella hissed, trying to wrench her hand away, but the clairvoyant hung on too fast, rounding on her lover.

"You're not going to get better if you don't start taking initiative of harnessing your own powers."

Bella's eyes widened until the red seemed to nearly surpass the size of the white. Alice swallowed, wanting to step back, but knowing that doing so wouldn't earn her any favors. If she was going to do this, she had to do it all the way. "And kill all of you in the process? I don't think so," Bella said, turning back to Carlisle.

Alice pulled her lover's arm down again. When she felt another hand on her shoulder, she jumped. Their father stared down at her, his eyes boring into hers until she moved out of the way and allowed him to administer the sedative.

"Bella's right. This is her choice," he said while he worked. Something like smug determination filled the newborn's face. "If she wants to get herself killed, that's what she's going to do."

The smug expression disappeared, replaced with a worry that hurt Alice deep in her gut.

"What?" Bella whispered.

Alice could've rolled her eyes, but the surprise she saw on Bella's face knocked her off her guard. Part of her wanted to shake the newborn, to snap at her that this was something they'd been telling her the whole time. Another part held her back. She looked at Carlisle, but their father was buy with his medical kit, leaving Alice and Bella to stare at one another over this.

Taking a deep breath, Alice reached for her lover's hand, dropping it when their father stood up.

"I'll be outside if you need me," he said, winking at Alice before taking his leave.

The door shut with a click and they stared at one another in silence, watching the thin light make gray shadows across their parents' floor.

"We don't want you to get hurt," Alice said after a long time. She mulled her words over and over in her head, but the right ones didn't appear, so she spoke the ones that fell off her tongue. "That's why we're doing all this."

"I know," Bella muttered, dropping her gaze to the floor. They watched her curl her bare toes, pressing the tips into the small carpet underneath their parents' bed. "You keep telling me that."

"It's the truth," Alice said. She tried not to hear the desperation in her own voice, but once she became aware of it, she couldn't stop it running rampant through her. Bending, she fell to her knees beside her lover and took both of Bella's hands in her own. She pressed kisses to their backs and rested her head in the newborn's lap until the strangeness between them began to dissipate again.

"The Volturi will be here in two short days," she added, letting go of Bella's hands so that she could hug her lover's swinging legs. A few seconds went by before she saw those hands lift and felt their fingers trailing through her hair, rubbing the spots at the top of her head and behind her ear. It felt good, sending tingles and fire down her neck and shoulders. Alice gave a small shiver. "We don't want them to take you away from us."

"Would they do that?" Bella asked while she worked.

Alice didn't answer for a long time. She thought about it, though. The idea of them taking Bella—either because she was dangerous or because they could use her powers—was too much to bear. She rolled over the double possibilities in her mind, knowing they might be watching from the shadows of the Cullen house. For all she knew, they'd already seen Bella as a newborn and wanted to make something more out of her. Sure, the new vampire hadn't ventured far beyond the house, but there were so many windows surrounding them—so many ways to see in—that she didn't doubt they were listening, observing, and tracking the Cullens' behavior from the outside.

"Alice?" Bella asked, breaking into the clairvoyant's train of thought.

Alice had barely noticed that her lover had stopped stroking her hair. With that gone, she picked her head up and startled a bit to find Bella's eyes darkened by shadows that hadn't been there only minutes before. Lifting one hand, Alice touched her lover's cheek, unable to stop herself from thinking how much their age could show on their faces if they weren't careful.

"I don't know if they would, but I'm not going to test their might," Alice said.

Eyes starting to swim, Bella nodded and leaned forward. The two vampires pressed their foreheads together, squeezing their hands between them as this knowledge sank in.

"Then I guess I have to start gaining control," Bella whispered.


	20. Chapter 20

It took persistence. Alice and Jasper took up their places at the ends of the room and pressured her, over and over and over again, to keep at it. With a little persuasion, they managed to convince Bella to not use sedatives at all during their sessions. Instead, Jasper complied with her pleas to only lower the calming feelings a little bit, so that when they worked, they could act as if she was already gaining control.

At first, Alice didn't realize the necessity of this. When Bella had first asked Jasper for the calming wave only to be lessened a fraction of what it had been hen he first started exuding them, the clairvoyant had flipped. She'd been so afraid that Bella was becoming addicted to feeling in control—to the falsities that were behind the feeling, rather than the feeling itself. The first thing that came to her mind was drugs and she implored Bella to stop asking them about this.

That was when Bella took her hands, looked her in the eye, and said, "What are you afraid of?"

Startled, Alice leaned back a bit. "I-I'm sorry?"

Her lover shrugged, but Alice could see the curiosity in her gaze, the uncertainty. It didn't occur to her that no one else understood the line of thinking she was going through. "You just seem really nervous about this, and I want to know why."

"Because I'm afraid you're going to get addicted to the thing that's giving you some sort of control instead of the actual control itself?" Alice asked, unsure now if this was a fear that either Bella or Jasper was living with.

A number of things could've happened—she could've been laughed out of the garage. Or blown off as if she'd said something entirely ridiculous. Part of her was even scared that this was exactly something Bella would do, especially given how dramatic the last few days had been. To her great relief, Bella just shook her head and smoothed Alice's hair back from her face.

"What I want is to know what control feels like, so that when I try to manifest it for myself, I'll know what to look for," she said.

For a second, Alice couldn't believe what she was hearing. The logic made perfect sense, but she couldn't comprehend the fact that she hadn't thought it it herself. Bella's smile was kind as she waited for Alice to bring this conclusion to life, and when she had, the newborn stepped back, letting their hands drop between them.

"Oh," Alice could only say.

Bella laughed now, a sound that startled Alice a bit. "Have I rendered you speechless?"

Alice laughed, too, but slowly. She scratched the back of her head. "Yeah."

Behind Bella, Jasper winked at the two of them. "For once."

The clairvoyant rolled her eyes. She would've thrown a shoe at them, but her lover had taken up position in the middle of the room and turned to Jasper.

"Okay," the newborn said, wiggling her fingers at her sides. "Let's go."

—

"She's looking much better, Alice. Well done."

Alice jumped a little and looked over her shoulder to see Edward closing the distance between them. Night had just fallen over the Cullen house and that evening, Bella had finally—finally!—been able to maintain her control. She'd never seen a vampire sweat until then, but every time Jasper had called for a break in their regiment, Bella would dismiss him with a wave of her hand and call, "Again." Alice had seen the same determination in her lover's eyes that she'd seen when the once-human had moved to Forks and been determined to be a part of their little vampire family. When she'd managed to gain control, no one could believe it, including the newborn herself.

"Again," she'd called, racing back to center. She repeated the actions over, and over, until they'd had her practically waltzing around the room without a single loss of control over the scent of blood. By the time they invited the rest of the family to see, it was like the water bottle wasn't even there. Esme had nearly cried tears of joy and Carlisle had broken out the red wine, even though none of them actually ate anything.

Now, they all stood milling in the living room, congratulating Bella on her success and talking to Jasper about their training methods. Alice couldn't help noticing how bitter Rosalie remained about all this—it wasn't a secret to anyone that she didn't like Bella being a vampire—but the clairvoyant couldn't help wondering what it would take for her to loosen up just a little bit.

_The time for hating on Bella has passed, hasn't it?_

"Thanks very much," Alice said, standing taller and pushing her shoulders back as she cradled her untouched wine. They both looked at the newborn, who wore Alice's hand-me-downs and still looked like a little kid wearing them. At some point, they'd have to buy her things that would be fitted, but for now, she looked like she was only slightly too small for the things she was wearing. "It was mostly Bella's idea. None of us would've finished tonight if she hadn't insisted."

He nodded and slid his glass onto an end table. "She's a lot more persistent than most people give her credit for. I think it's one of those things where she has to want it in order to work for it."

Nodding, Alice followed her lover with her eyes. Sensing someone watching, Bella turned, smiling at Alice over her shoulder before Bree asked a question and brought her attention back around.

"Kind of like how she gave you that ring you're wearing," Edward whispered.

Blushing to the roots of her hair, Alice closed her mouth and stared straight ahead. "Yeah. Kind of like that."

She could feel him watching her. "What? You're not going to tell anyone?"

Blinking hard, she threw him a glance and then put her glass on the table beside his. "The timing hasn't been right."

"Alice, the timing will never be right. The Volturi are coming the day after tomorrow. If they don't know now," he said, gesturing to their family where they stood laughing and clinking untouched glasses, "then when?"

The sight made it hard for her to breathe, especially around the questions he asked. "When things get easier," she said, turning into the kitchen.

"And what about Charlie?" he called after her.

She stalled, but then kept going, hiding in the shadows by the sink. "We left him a note."

"She's going to have to call eventually."

Alice gave him a look over her shoulder. "She will. She's just—not ready yet. We wanted to wait until she was in control."

She heard his footsteps crossing the floor. They came to a stop not far behind her and she resisted the urge to wrap her arms around her waist in discomfort. More than anything, she wished he'd stop asking these questions. "Alice, you know the Volturi. They've been watching both of you since we went to Italy. They don't care that she has a family, or that she's only just turned. When they want something, they make offers. Now that you're both vampires, and Forks isn't the greatest place for her to be when the people she knew in life are still around, they're going to see no reason for you to resist."

Alice thought about this, turning the idea over and over in her head. She hadn't given it a second thought before, but she also hadn't entertained the idea as being credible. In the back of her mind, it'd been sitting in wait, a phantom with teeth and a cheshire cat grin. But it'd been a nightmare. It'd been the boogey man. She couldn't find it inside herself to give it credibility.

Until now.

"Then we'll just have to convince them they're wrong," she said.


	21. Chapter 21

The Volturi came the next night, in a long line down the driveway that snaked into the house with the ease and flow of a river. Esme and Carlisle met them at the door, leading them to the front living space where Alice, Bella, Edward, Jasper, and Bree were all sitting. Rosalie and Emmett took up residence inside the doorway to the kitchen, watching from a safe distance now that they weren't strictly involved in what was happening next.

Neither Jane nor Alec took a seat. Instead, they hovered in the center of the room while the Cullen parents took up a place by the end of the couch and waited until everyone was settled before Jane stepped in front of them.

"I assume that everything's in order," she said, speaking directly to Alice. If the clairvoyant had had a pulse, it would've been pounding off the charts by this point.

Alice nodded. Her fingers twisted around Bella's as the Volturi guard turned to her lover. "We've worked long and hard to get to this point, but I'm sure you'll be pleased to note that the results are the same as they would be after a long year's worth of training."

Jane cast a quick glance back at Alice and narrowed her eyes, folding her hands into the spaces of her cloak. "I'd be ready to believe that—if you weren't holding her hands so tightly."

Blushing hard, Alice released Bella with some small reluctance and watched as the guard turned back to her lover.

"Stand up," Jane said.

Bella followed suit. She kept her back straight and her eyes ahead while the guard spun her around and instructed her to walk across the room and back. When that was finished, Jane motioned to Alec.

"Produce the flask," she said while her brother reached into a bag Alice hadn't noticed hanging from his shoulder.

All the blood left Alice's face and she watched them exchange the flask with growing alarm. "What's all this?"

Jane turned to the clairvoyant with a look that said "how dare you speak to me?" She twisted the cap off and the unmistakable coppery scent of human blood wafted from within. "It's a test, of course. Haven't you been telling us you've been running some of your own this whole time?"

Nodding, Alice looked from the flask to Jane's face and back. "Y-yes, but—"

"Then you'll find no fault in me conducting my own experiments," Jane said, turning to Bella and holding out the container. "If you really are as in control as they say, then this should be little work for you."

Alice couldn't breathe. The heaviness, the silence, in the room was filling up around her and she stared at her lover for a long time, wondering what would happen and watching Bella's face.

To her great credit, Bella had become fantastic at masking what she was feeling. She was becoming almost like Edward in that way. While Jane held the flask, she kept her back straight and her eyes on the container. Every muscle in her body seemed to be straining towards the blood, but she took two hard swallows in two long minutes and seemed to connect herself to the ground again. Alice could almost hear the blood whispering to them all, calling to them and begging them to be a part of its grand plan for chaos and destruction.

Or maybe that was just the way Alice felt. The siren's song of human blood was hard to resist.

Finally, with every mercy in the goodness of the world, Jane shrugged and closed the flask back up. The silence in the room lifted with the deepest breaths, as if someone had flicked the on-off switch and brought life back into the Cullen house. Behind her, Alice could hear both Rosalie and Emmett shifting.

Bree had a look of complete astonishment and admiration as she stared up at Bella.

"Impressive," Jane said, handing the flask back to Alec. The guard stuck it away quicker than it had appeared and Alice wondered if half the drama was just the fact that neither of the Volturi were wiling to withstand dramatics. Turning back to the group, Jane tucked her hands behind her back. "I've never met a newborn who was so resistant to human blood at such a young vampiric age. We could use you."

All the relief in the room tensed up again and the soft, reassuring smiles the family was sharing melted as fast as they appeared.

"What?" Carlisle asked.

Jane shrugged again, but there was a new hardness to her eyes as she regarded the doctor. "We don't often encounter such strength in our newest ranks. Such an asset could be valuable, and I'm sure there are plenty of other powers she possesses that Aro would be interested in learning about."

"I'm not going with you."

Alice jumped as Bella spoke for the first time since the Volturi arrived. She swallowed a frog in her throat as the newborn's face morphed from happy to disgusted, standing taller for her shoulders being pushed back against the adversity of the Volturi.

"Bella," the clairvoyant whispered, but her lover wasn't listening. Instead, she moved in front of Jane so that her words were front and center.

"I didn't turn to become part of the Volturi guard. I turned so that I could be with Alice and her family. This is where I belong. I'm not leaving them," she said. Her voice was smooth and even. Logic dripped from her words until Alice wanted to cry at the sound of them.

But Jane's silence scared her more and Alice stood up, taking her lover's hands. Pulling the newborn back a step, she was able to see the alarm in Jane's face.

_It probably isn't every day that you get told off by someone younger than you._

"Is that so?" Jane asked.

Though the question was more of an angry statement, Bella nodded. "It is."

The guard took a step forward and Alice pressed herself against Bella, trying to unite them as closely as possible. Jane didn't have eyes for the clairvoyant, though. Her attention was solely on Bella.

"I can assure you, your mind will change. Our interest," she said, glancing at Alec, who lifted his chin, "will not wane with time. Or nuptials," she added, nodding at the women's conjoined hands.

Both vampires blushed. Jane didn't seem to care if she'd embarrassed or outed them—she turned to her brother, tossing her cloak back around her shoulders, and made her way to the door. They'd hardly started leaving when everyone in the family jumped from their places and surrounded the love birds. Everyone except Edward—he had no question in his eyes, but he didn't look at them, either.

"Come along, Alec. It's time to go home," she said, her voice cutting through the new commotion until she'd commanded the attention of everyone in the room. When they reached the hallway, she turned back, pinning the women down with her laser-like stare. "We'll be watching."


	22. Epilogue

"Yeah, yeah, dad. We're fine. We're both doing—really well, actually," Bella said with a laugh to punctuate her sentence. From the corner of her eye, she smiled at Alice, then returned to pacing the living room.

Alice turned her smile to the countertop, where she and Esme and Carlisle were sitting. Steaming mugs of celebratory animal blood stood before each of them and they lifted these every so often while they felt the weight of the Volturi's promise, and that of their latest engagement, sitting on their shoulders.

"I can't believe you're engaged. It seems like you only just got married to Jasper a few days ago," Esme said, beaming.

Alice grinned, running her thumb along the handle of her mug. "I know, right? Jeeze. Where'd the time even go?"

Once the Volturi had gone, Bella and Alice had been left with no choice but to announce the secret they'd been hiding since getting home from Charlie's. It'd been a long time coming, and the rest of the family had been relieved to hear that things were happy between the two love birds, but they'd all agreed that having Jane announce the engagement for them wasn't high up on the "most wanted." After that, hugs and half-formed tears came all around, congratulations and questions were fielded, and Esme started making plans before Alice, of all people, called her to a stop. The clairvoyant explained the elopement and how things were going to get dicey if the Volturi ever came around again. This, naturally, saddened everyone, but only for a moment. Esme took her daughter by the shoulders and said they'd have to have a wedding. It didn't matter if the elopement had happened or not—the best way to solve this whole conundrum about what was going to go on in the future would be best settled if she and Bella married. Properly.

"But I still want to plan the wedding," Alice had said. "With Bella. Just us. We want to do it mostly ourselves."

That was how they wound up getting celebratory blood and seats in the kitchen, dragging their conversation with them while Bella made the announcement to her father. The clairvoyant had tried to listen while her lover explained the elopement situation—and then the subsequent decision to marry—but her parents had taken her by the shoulders and told her to let Bella handle things. Anything else Charlie needed to know could be answered later.

"I think we're going to have the wedding and then move," Alice said at long last.

Both of her parents turned to her, shock written all over their faces. "Really?" Carlisle asked.

"Why?" Esme asked.

Alice took a deep breath. "Because this is huge. All of this. The Volturi are coming back—we know they are. There's nothing we can do about that. But if they can't find us—if we maybe try to make it on our own—then maybe we have a chance to get away from their shadow. I feel like they've been hovering over us since they first met Bella and I'm sick of it. I'm sure Bella's sick of it, too. We wouldn't go far—maybe Oregon or something. California, even. I just want to get her away from all this. Even for a little bit, you know?"

Esme nodded, but Carlisle leaned forward. For the first time, the clairvoyant noticed the lines on his face. "You realize you'll have to invite the Volturi to the wedding?"

Alice took a drink. "Yeah. After that, though? I want us to go off on our own. Just for a while, anyway."

"I think you should," Esme said in a soft, kind voice. Glancing up over Alice's shoulder, she smiled and got to her feet. "We'll leave you lovebirds alone."

Turning, Alice caught sight of Bella behind her just in time for the newborn to kiss her forehead and sit beside her. With a shuffle, Carlisle and Esme got to their feet, leaving the room with a muffled thanks from Alice. She took Bella's hands in hers, giving the newborn her undivided attention. "So, how'd it go?"

Bella grinned. "Better than I thought. He's glad we're having a wedding and mad that we eloped, but confused about the whole thing, and I told him that we were, too."

Alice laughed. "Yeah. That's the understatement of the year." She ran her thumbs across the back of Bella's knuckles until the newborn pulled her hands away and cupped Alice's chin with them. Their eyes met across the short distance between them, but it felt like nothing in such close proximity as they were.

"What's up?" Bella asked. "You're so quiet."

Swallowing hard, the clairvoyant straightened. "Would you—be upset—if I asked you to move out with me? After the wedding, I mean. Away from here, from the Volturi and Seattle and everything that's been chasing us."

Bella shrugged, taking Alice's hands in hers again. "I mean, sure, I guess. We'd be leaving everything behind, though."

"I just want us to have a new start. Fresh, somewhere different. No drama, just us. Do you think—you'd like that?"

With a laugh, Bella nodded. She didn't say anything for a long while, studying their hands between them, but when she looked up, her eyes were shining. "I think I could learn to love it. I'd like to see more of the world."

Alice thought her chest would burst from relief and happiness at the sound of those words slipping from her lover's mouth. Leaning forward, she pressed her lips to Bella's, sliding her hand through the newborn's hair and wrapping her free arm around Bella's waist to pull them as close together as she could. Bella responded in kind, giving Alice a tight, long hug and pressing her mouth into each of the clairvoyant's lingering kisses until neither woman was sure which touch was her own.

_We're going to be okay,_ Alice told herself as they slid from their chairs and held each other closer, giggles punctuating their kisses. _We're going to be able to do this._

—

A/N: This concludes the second installment of the Alice and Bella series. Since I have an original story in the works under my real name, I won't be posting the next story immediately. To the best of my knowledge, it'll be a short story called The Wedding. Until then, I want to thank everyone, again, for reading, liking, commenting, or just enjoying this story with me. Thank you so much, happy reading, and Happy New Year.


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